Work Experience With The Rival
by Coelectichi
Summary: Work experience is just one of those things every school kid has to do but Joey's struggling to find a placement so has to take the only option left open to him and suffer work experience at the last place he'd ever want to be … Kaiba Corp
1. Wednesday 5 days before work experience

Wednesday – five days before work experience

Coel: ah a new story

Heva: yeah. I've worked really hard on this one and it's almost completely finished just needs the last two chapters written and a few more checks before I can upload it all. However I'm pretty certain that I don't need to change anything about this first chapter.

Coel: anything else you need to say before we get on with the story?

Heva: a thank you to melodyz07 because she has been so amazing helping me with this story. It wouldn't have been uploaded without her help so anyone who really enjoys this story say thanks to her as well, she really deserves it for putting up with my disorganisation and inability to stick to my own deadlines.

Coel: thank you melodyz07 for keeping heva busy with this story. It means she has had less time to get on my nerves.

Heva: You're so caring, coel. Do you want to do the disclaimer and warnings?

Coel: heva doesn't own yugioh or its characters, she does however own the OCs that show up. There are no pairings with OCs and the yugioh characters, only friendships.

--

--

Wednesday – five days before work experience

--

"Joey do you seriously have no offers?" Tristan asked his friend who was looking seriously fed up.

"None, all the places I asked said no," Joey complained, putting his head on his desk and hitting the surface with his fists. This habit seemed to have become common place when things went wrong for him.

"You know, there's always the chance Kaiba might let you spend the week at his company," Yuugi suggested quietly. He looked a bit scared at suggesting it and rightfully so as Joey looked ready to kill at the mere suggestion of him spending any sort of extra time with Kaiba. "All I'm saying, Joey, is that I'm sure Kaiba could get someone in his office to look after you for a week, you'd probably not even see him during the entire time."

"He's right, you might as well try," Tea pointed out, quick to agree with Yuugi, even after Yami had left she still seemed to be intent on treating Yuugi as if he was the most important person in the world, much like the pharaoh had.

"Fine."

--

Seto was sat on his own, reading, when he heard the approaching footsteps. He'd heard most of the conversation due to the mutt's loud voice. It was almost impossible not to hear him and Seto was sure that everyone now knew that the pup had no work experience placement for next week. He'd left it a bit late to start applying to places and everywhere either already had a student or was unable to offer him a place. Seto was well aware that it was a distinct possibility someone in their school would end up asking him if he could possibly let them work at his office. He'd almost predicted it would be the mutt after hearing a conversation last week between Joey and Tristan, both had loud voices which were barely miss-able if you were sat in the same room as them, with your music turned up or not.

As he heard Joey stop in front of his desk Seto paused his music and made a show of putting his book down on the desk and pull out the headphones to show he was listening.

"Listen moneybags, I don't want to do this but I've not got much choice. Can I do my work experience at your company? You can arrange me to be with a department and never see me whilst I'm there, so it'll be like I'm not even there to you…" Joey paused unsure how to proceed with convincing Seto to arrange it.

"Fine," Seto replied, before putting his headphones back in and picking up his book again.

"All I was asking for was … wait a moment did you just say yes?"

"No, I said fine but it amounts to the same thing. If you want a placement at my office for a week I'm sure I could arrange something for you." Seto switched his music back on to show that he wasn't going to talk to Joey any more, he could still hear him if he decided to talk, but it had proven to be an effective conversation finisher in the past. It worked this time as well as Joey walked back to his group of friends, and left Seto to continue reading.

--

The day passed slowly for Joey. He had maths first with Yuugi and Duke which was fun, most of the time. When he had no reason to dread the next week it was good, but today he was preoccupied with the possibility of an entire week living a nightmare.

"Joey, are you still there?" Yuugi was asking as he waved his hand in front of Joey's face. Joey jumped as he felt someone hit him on the back of the head.

"What was that for?" he growled as he turned to find Duke standing behind him.

"You didn't seem to be responding to anything else and I want to go to break." Duke shrugged as he picked up his bag and moved towards the door. Joey glanced around the room to see that everyone else had already left, including the teacher.

"Are you that worried about this work experience with Kaiba?" Yuugi asked as Joey put his books into his bag. It was just like Yuugi to know what was wrong without being told, but Joey guessed it wasn't hard to work out what was wrong with him.

"I guess so," Joey told him as he stood up to leave for break. He stretched to relieve the tension in his muscles from sitting down for too long, two hours of maths was just excessive punishment.

The two walked towards the courtyard where Ryou, Tea, Tristan and Duke would already be. Joey found his mind wandering back to next week's torture but tried to repel it. He didn't need any of those kind of images right now, especially when he was about to meet with his friends. Admitting that he found Kaiba attractive was not on his list of embarrassing secrets to reveal right now, getting caught with a hard on due to imagining said jerk and a rather different kind of torture to what next week would actually be like was even worse. The thought involving Kaiba, his desk and some form of restraint for the blue eyed CEO was going to be thought about in more detail later, but right now was not appropriate.

They found the group sat at one of the picnic tables, watching a group of boys throw what was originally a rugby ball but had been deflated and ripped several times. Tea was watching them with rather a lot of interest while the others chatted about their lessons that morning and what they had planned for next week. Ryou was actually talking quite animatedly about how he had got a placement at a vets in town and had already been given a schedule of what he would be doing whilst there. The small albino had lost all signs of nervousness as he'd been talking and was appearing to have scared Duke with his new attitude. Duke was hiding behind Tristan as the talk about how great being a vet was continued. Yuugi hurried over to sit down as Joey followed at a slower pace. There was only ten minutes of break left so Joey choked down his crisps, and the remains of Yuugi's sandwiches, and avoided Tea's healthy yoghurt that was offered. It had become well established that Joey would eat what his friends didn't want from their lunch, unless it was healthy.

--

The next lesson was physics, which Joey had with Kaiba. It was in physics that he'd first started really looking at Kaiba. He'd noticed the feminine appearance he had; the thin waist and hips, the long legs and rather delicate hands, the soft looking cheeks and his eyes. Those eyes that you could get lost in if only given the chance, that could be as cold as ice one minute and alive with fire the next, that were such a piercing blue colour. Joey had come to the conclusion that Kaiba knew his eyes held power and used them to gain it, his glare was the main source of this idea and Joey had been on the receiving end of it many times.

"Do you think that you would mind joining us, Joey?" the teacher was asking him as he drifted into his thoughts of feeling that soft skin against his own.

"Sorry," he responded, startled out of his thoughts and realising that the rest of the class was watching him. He was quite thankful that physics was unpopular this year and only seven other people were present to see him blush and try to cover his rather obvious problem. The annoying thing was that with only seven other people there the entire class would start asking him questions as soon as the teacher gave them the chance.

"Now that Joey has returned to the lesson I want you all to start the worksheets I've handed out while I go and photocopy some things." The teacher didn't wait for any kind of response and walked out leaving the class alone in the lab. Predictably the two girls, the only two in the whole year taking physics, started chatting about something or other. Well one started talking about what their new puppy had been up to recently while the other calmly listened as they started filling in the worksheet. Kaiba was filling in the worksheet quietly, before pulling his reading book out from under the desk and continuing to read. One of the other boys had turned around to tell the girl to shut up before entering a verbal battle with her. The other three boys were helping the argument on both sides, usually Joey would have joined in but he was watching Kaiba again. The stool he was sat on allowed Joey to see him without the back of a chair blocking the view, and he wasn't allowed to wear his jacket in the lab so that was out of the way too.

"So who were you day dreaming about Joey?" the loud girl was asking as she grinned at him. He couldn't help the slight blush that stained his cheeks as the entire class, except Kaiba, stared at him whilst waiting for the answer.

"Just a rather great girl that I saw recently," he told them. Hopefully they'd assume he was talking about Mai as most of the school had concluded that him and Mai were meant to be. It had even prevented a couple of relationships in the past. The looks on most of the group's faces, including the nods between the guys, showed they'd taken the bait.

"You and Mai would make such a cute couple," the girl was saying with a sigh, "you're just so perfect together." Her silent friend just smiled slightly at the girl next to her as the loud mouth leaned forward on her desk. "I wish that I had someone who would care about me like that." She sighed again and put her head on the desk while her friend patted her on the back gently. Joey tried to hide a smile at the way the quiet girl was acting, it was all so obvious to him now.

--

The end of the lesson came about swiftly as the teacher got fed up of the guys and loud girl arguing. Kaiba had just read his book, ignoring the paper and folders that were thrown across the lab. Joey had joined in with the paper throwing, and managed to 'accidentally' hit Kaiba on the back of the head with a paper plane. He'd been surprised when Kaiba had turned round and thrown it straight back at him before returning to his book. The silent girl had just laughed at the entire scenario, refusing to join in as she was catching up on homework for another lesson. When a piece of paper hit her desk she happily threw it back at whoever the culprit was but she never really joined in.

Joey packed away his folder as quickly as he could; unfortunately a lot of his work had been used as ammo so was on the floor around the room. The rest of the class was doing the same, apart from Kaiba who had left almost straight away. The quiet member of the class was helping clear up the mess, handing work back to its respective owners. Eventually it was just Joey and her left in the room as the others had managed to retrieve their work. She placed a hand on his arm as he was about to leave.

"You should ask him out," she said quietly.

"What are you talking about?"

"Seto, you should ask him out."

"How did you find out?" Joey asked, he was surprised that he wasn't angry someone had noticed, but he was pretty certain this girl wouldn't say anything to anyone else.

"You just look at him in that way," she said with a shrug. "When you drifted off into dream land you were staring at him." The slight smile on her lips showed that she found it rather entertaining.

"Even if I ask him out he'd never say yes, he's probably straight anyway, and he hates me," Joey told her with a sigh. He'd never let himself entertain the possibility that Kaiba would agree to anything with him, it would never happen.

"What makes you sure he hates you?" she put her head on one side, the way some dogs do when they don't understand the command they were just given, it looked slightly cute Joey decided.

"The way he acts towards me," was his answer, but for some reason it just wasn't a convincing explanation when he said it out loud.

"You act the same way towards him. Just think about it Joey, and by the way he is most definitely not straight," she told him with a smile as she turned around and began to walk away.

"You know you should ask your friend out too," he said as she walked towards the door. The girl sighed before turning back to him, a sad expression on her face.

"She's straight, she likes guys a lot and I don't want to ruin my friendship with her by confessing." With that said she turned back round and walked away from the classroom. Joey just watched her leave before also leaving the now tidy classroom.

--

"How was physics?" Tristan asked as they sat in the canteen.

"Fine, we got let out early and I ended up chatting to that Georgie girl; you know the one, short, hair in a ponytail, doesn't wear colourful clothes, very quiet."

"Do you mean the maths freak?" Duke asked as he started eating his sandwiches.

"It's not nice calling her a freak," Ryou complained as he tucked into a slice of chocolate cake.

"I heard that she beat Kaiba on a maths test and if that's true she is officially a maths freak," Duke reiterated.

"She's only friends with guys as well," Tea told them as she ate the yoghurt Joey had declined earlier. The entire group just stared at her due to her comment.

"So are you," Tristan pointed out.

"I'm not, I have female friends as well," Tea complained.

"So does Georgie," Joey told them, "she sits with, I've forgotten her name, anyway she sits with the other girl in my physics class, and they're friends."

"What did you chat about?" Yuugi asked wanting to stop Tea's rant about how she did have female friends.

"Just stuff," Joey said quietly, munching Tristan's cold pizza slowly whilst considering what he should say. "She was talking about relationships and friends, general stuff," he said hoping that they'd loose interest.

"Like she knows anything about relationships," Tea complained. "I expect she's never had a boyfriend in her life." Joey considered telling them that Georgie probably hadn't because she wasn't inclined that way, but decided against it as the topic of conversation had changed as Tea told them about her latest crush on one of the guys who'd been playing catch earlier. Joey glanced around the canteen, trying to spot where Kaiba had got to. He saw Georgie first; she was walking towards a group of boys who were standing together. They were the highly intelligent group, IQs off the charts, and he spotted Kaiba talking to one of them before the group welcomed Georgie and began walking out of the canteen. A smile flickered across his face as he thought that she was probably right about him not being straight if she was in his group of friends. Kaiba and friends, that was an odd combination. He'd always thought of Kaiba as a loner, but it seemed as though the loners had formed a group.

"Joey? Joey? Joey?" Yuugi was asking as he waved his hand in front of his friend's face yet again.

"Sorry, just zoned out for a moment there," Joey apologised as he turned back to the group.

"We noticed," Tristan told him, concern for his friend showing in his voice.

"Are you ok, Joey? You keep drifting off today," Yuugi said as he lifted a hand up to check Joey's temperature.

"I feel a little ill."

"Maybe you should go home," Duke suggested.

"I might as well, I haven't been able to focus on work all day," Joey mumbled as Yuugi and Tristan stood up to take him to the office to sign out and go home.

--

Joey lay on the sofa, the TV on quietly in the background. He couldn't help but think of Kaiba, both spread out over a desk in front of him but also just spending time with him when they weren't fighting. A rather predictable show was on TV, as Joey had been unable to find anything decent to watch, and he felt drawn to the screen as one of the actors spoke those same words as Georgie earlier.

"You should ask him out."

The girl who spoke on screen was a hair dresser talking to a client. She was your average bit part character who helps get the main couple together by prompting them into action. 'Maybe that's what Georgie was trying to do for me and Kaiba?' Joey thought as the scene on the show changed to the restaurant where the main guy was with his partner that he was going to break up with. The predictable plot was starting to irritate him so Joey switched off the TV and decided to try and look through his old magazines.

The magazines were all duel monsters ones that he'd got from Yuugi's grandpa, and a lot of them had good pictures of Kaiba. He blushed at the memory of the time he'd spent looking at one particular picture of Kaiba in one of the recent editions. It was with an interview Kaiba had done with Pegasus about the 'creation of the game as we know it today'. The picture showed Kaiba leaning against his desk in just his shirt and trousers. His top few buttons were undone and the pale flesh was visible. Joey had wanted so much to be in a position with Kaiba leaning like that against his desk before Joey pushed him back against the wooden surface and, ahem, took away his innocence.

He'd never really worried about his obsession with his rival, especially after he'd noticed how many other people did the same, until he'd had the fantasies when Kaiba hadn't consented to what was happening. When he started imaging raping the guy, Joey started to feel rather disgusted with his own imagination. However the self loathing was easier to cope with in his own head than the new thoughts of actually dating Kaiba.

'Seto, you should ask him out.'

What would it be like spending time with Seto, in a boyfriend way? He knew what it would be like to spend time with him otherwise.

--

Seto leant back against the tree towards the end of lunch. He was having a good day so far. His friends were chatting about the impossibility of free will and time travel due to the paradox such an idea created. One of them was explaining the idea of time travel being a sound theory as it is simply travelling across another dimension, while another outlined the concept of free will. The one talking about free will started talking about psychology and was immediately drowned out with shouts of how psychology was an unreal science. Seto sighed as the debate continued, it was fairly normal for this to occur and he would be left alone if he didn't want to join in.

He wasn't sure what had happened in physics earlier. The mutt had zoned out whilst staring at him, and although the pup may have fooled the rest of the group when he said that he was thinking of Mai, Seto wasn't convinced. The pause before answering, and the fact that Seto knew exactly where he'd been staring, caused a lot of doubt to be present in his mind.

"Do you want me to pick up Mokuba again?" Georgie was asking him as Seto stared into nothingness. He turned to look at her as soon as he registered her voice.

"If it's no bother."

"It's fine, just pick him up whenever you finish work." Georgie smiled at him before returning to her drawing. Seto pulled his book out of his bag and started reading again, hoping to keep the mutt out of his head for the rest of lunch.

--

Seto stopped the car outside a row of terraced houses that evening. He hurried up a driveway and rang the doorbell. It was cold and Seto had left his coat at home so was impatient to get going so that he could warm up. His teeth were beginning to chatter as he heard the dogs barking inside due to the doorbell alerting them to a visitor. Yells of 'shut up' and 'get out of the way so I can answer the door' were coming from inside. Georgie opened the door whilst holding back the two dogs that were trying to barge their way out of the house.

"Hi, Seto. Come in and I'll get you a coffee, you look frozen. Mind the dogs, just push them out the way. Mokuba's watching a film with my mum, I'm not sure why." Seto managed to squeeze past the dogs in the hallway and followed Georgie through to the kitchen. He could hear laughter from the next room which he assumed was the living room where Mokuba and Georgie's mum would be watching the film. He'd only been inside the house a handful of times, but he'd picked Mokuba up from here regularly, so it was still uncomfortable standing watching Georgie make coffee.

"Thanks for looking after Mokuba again," he said to break the silence as he glanced around the room. There were childish pictures up on the cupboard doors and the fridge, and Seto recognised Mokuba's attempt at a signature on a few of the more recent ones.

"There's no problem. Mum loves having a boy to look after, she always wanted a son, and Mokuba's always really well behaved. He's got some drawings to show you that he's really proud of, so be nice, and he's done all his homework. He's had a snack but I know you guys usually eat late like us so he hasn't had dinner yet." Georgie handed him a cup of coffee and Seto glanced at the design on the front. It had a picture of a dog lying on a bed with the words 'why be ambitious when you can be lazy?' written across it. The dogs started barking again as the doorbell was rung.

"Sorry about this, it's like Piccadilly junction here tonight." Georgie put her mug down on the side and made her way back to the front door. Seto just watched her disappear and tried to work out what her odd phrase meant, probably that it was busy and lots of people had turned up. Sometimes her use of British phrases confused him, especially when she translated them wrong, but you had to make some allowances for her as she'd only been in Japan for a few months.

"Brandy, Millie, get in the kitchen. Sorry about this Seto I'm going to have to shut the door, the vicar just turned up to drop off some stuff and we need to keep the dogs out the way so I'm going to have to shut them in here."

"That's fine," Seto said as the two dogs were forced into the room and Georgie shut the door. The younger dog, a black labrador, sat down in front of him and began whining, while the older one, a border collie, just curled up in a corner. Seto glared at the dog but it seemed unfazed, in fact it inched closer and placed a paw on his foot.

"Go away," he told it as he took another sip of his coffee. The dog looked away briefly, before lifting a paw and gently scratching at Seto's leg.

"Leave me alone," Seto tried again with a bit more menace. Again the dog seemed unaffected, in fact she jumped up, nearly spilling Seto's coffee, and began licking his hand. Mokuba walked in from the living room at that moment and started laughing at the image of his brother being 'viciously attacked' by the puppy.

"Millie, leave Seto alone," Mokuba told the dog who immediately turned and ran over to him. "You can wash your hands in the sink," he told his older brother as he continued laughing. "Has the vicar turned up with the new hymn books?" Mokuba asked as he pointed to the shut door from the kitchen to the hallway.

"I think so."

"Georgie's mum said he would be. Yes she did, yes she did."

"Mokuba stop talking like that to the dog, it can't understand you anyway."

"Her name is Millie, and can we get a dog?"

"No."

"But Seto they are so wonderful and I'm sure you'd love Millie if you just gave her a chance."

"That doesn't matter, it is still a no. They need feeding and walking and lots of time and they chew things, so it would almost be like having another you around the house."

"They grow out of chewing things," Mokuba argued as he hugged Millie, unfazed by his brother's comparison.

"They still chew things, including books and wires which is not something I want happening at home." (Heva: My friend's puppy ate the back cover of her physics text book and she's now got to buy a new one to replace it. Also my brother fed his homework diary to our dog which I think is an ingenious way to get out of your homework.)

Georgie pushed open the door again and Millie escaped into the hallway that now had stacks of books and boxes with unknown contents.

"We ought to get going, thanks for the coffee," Seto said, rather impatient to leave the dog hair coated house.

"I'll go grab my stuff," Mokuba said as he ran back into the living room.

"Whenever you need someone to look after Mokuba feel free to call, if I'm not here my mum is bound to be able to look after him. I guess I'm never going to be able to persuade you to hang around here for a while though."

"Sorry, no chance," Seto replied with a slight smile.

"You and mutts just don't get along," Georgie teased, the double meaning obvious to them both.

"It appears not."

"I spoke to him at the end of physics and guess who he was day dreaming about." It wasn't a question and Seto didn't need to ask who she was referring to. "He likes you, Seto, I don't know if it's just physical attraction or what though so I wouldn't get your hopes up too high."

"My hopes have never been high as far as Joey's concerned. Thanks for trying to help me out," Seto smiled again and Georgie grinned back before hugging him. Mokuba walked back in to see the two of them and had to do a double take.

"Are you two going to start dating or something?" he asked in a way that suggested he was very supportive of the idea.

"Who wants to tell him?" Georgie asked, hands on hips as she looked back and forth between the two.

"I'll tell him on the way home. See you tomorrow, Georgie."

"Bye, Seto, bye, Mokuba."

--

--

Heva: so what do you think?

Coel: are you asking me or the readers?

Heva: the readers, why would I ask you?

Coel: that's why I was confused, I don't know why you'd ask me.

Heva: I really don't understand you sometimes coel. Please review and I'll try to get the second chapter out later this week once I've finished making final changes to it.

Date 16/08/08


	2. Thursday 4 days before work experience

Thursday – four days before work experience

Heva: Now coel, repeat after me. I must not tempt fate.

Coel: _just shrugs and refuses to co-operate. Opens packet of liquorice allsorts and starts eating them._

Heva: Coel just repeat it!

Coel: No. It's not my fault it happened after I told a few reviewers that you would update unless you got involved in something serious like a car accident, and you're not injured and the car isn't damaged so I don't see why I should. It's not like he actually hit your car.

Heva: Coel, I have been in two near misses this morning thanks to completely idiotic, and in the case of one of the drivers, illegal drivers!

Coel: Do you want a liquorice allsort?

Heva: That's the closest I going to get to a promise not to tempt fate from you isn't it?

Coel: _nods_

Heva: Fine, enjoy the story. _Takes a sweet from the offered bag. _You've eaten all the pink ones.

Coel: Just get on with the story.

--

--

Thursday – four days before work experience

--

Joey awoke with a headache and feeling like he had the flu. He lifted a hand to his forehead to try and tell if he had a temperature. When this proved inconclusive he managed to drag himself out from the bed and into the kitchen. He pulled out the thermometer and placed it under his tongue for a few minutes. This showed he had a temperature and he pulled out the ibuprofen and sleeping tablets to send him to sleep and get rid of his headache. His dad wandered in at that moment and began making his morning coffee.

"Are you ok?"

"I think I've got the flu. Do you mind contacting the school to say I'll not be in today?" Joey swallowed the two pills and began walking back to his room before his father could answer.

"Fine. Get better soon."

--

"Kaiba?"

"Yes Yuugi," Seto answered as the short duelist walked over to him at break time.

"As Joey's ill today I thought I ought to give you his number so that you can ring him and give him details of next week." Yuugi held out the piece of paper so that Seto could take it.

"Ok."

Seto watched Yuugi leave before turning to find his friends.

--

The day was mundane for Seto, he went to maths, all three hours of it, and to his chemistry lesson in the afternoon. Joey was in his chemistry set, along with Tristan and Duke, and it was almost guaranteed that they would have an argument in every lesson. It had become something to look forward to for Seto, but with Joey away the class would be boring.

Dr Rose was droning on about carbon atoms and Seto was struggling to remain focused. He usually had no trouble listening to Dr Rose, but today he was thinking about Joey's absence. Joey was never ill, his attendance was his one good point. Seto concluded that he would phone from the office later and ask how he was feeling under the pretence of telling him the details of his work experience next week.

"Remember to do the worksheet for homework. Have a good time on work experience if I don't see you around school tomorrow," Dr Rose was saying as people began leaving the room. "By the way, will anyone see Joey to give him his homework?"

"He's working with Kaiba next week so give it to him," someone was saying, probably Tristan.

"Ok, Seto can you wait while I print out a copy of the slides for him?" Dr Rose asked as he began faffing about with his lap top. Seto just shrugged and continued packing up.

--

Joey was woken by the phone ringing a bit after four o clock. He groaned and put his arms over his head to try and block out the noise. The answer phone kicked in quickly and Joey heard his own voice telling the caller that they'd reached Joey's phone but he was probably out with friends right now so couldn't answer.

"It's Kaiba Seto here. I thought I should ring you just in case I don't see you tomorrow. On Monday turn up at nine o clock and I'll show you around. I've had a word with the CG department, that's computer graphics by the way, and the security department. They've both agreed to take you for one of the days if you want to, they're currently discussing which day is best so I'll have to tell you on Monday. My secretary said that she will find something for you to do as well, so I hope you like filing. If you want to talk about anything give me a ring, my mobile number is … wait a minute while I find it … I've got it written down here somewhere."

Joey had pulled himself out of bed and walked into the hallway where the answer phone was. He considered picking up the phone and talking to Seto but it was entertaining listening to him try and locate his mobile number.

"I'll find it in a minute. I hate getting a new mobile number. Anyway just phone me back before five thirty on this number and I'll still be here, after that I'm sure my secretary can patch you through to my mobile. I've got dinner with Mokuba and some of his friends tonight so feel free to ring me as I'm bound to be bored. Um … what else was there? Oh of course, Dr Rose gave me the work you missed from Chemistry today so I'll give that to you on Monday. I think that's all so get well soon, bye." Seto hung up the phone and Joey heard the click.

"I don't think he's used to leaving messages," he muttered with a grin as he walked into the kitchen to find something to eat. He opened the fridge to peer inside and noticed the lack of food. The cupboards and freezer showed the same pattern and Joey spotted the post-it note that had been attached to the oven reminding him and his dad that they needed to go shopping soon. Joey reopened the fridge and pulled out the milk bottle, deciding that he would make himself a hot chocolate and hope his dad brought home something to eat. He sniffed the top of the bottle and recoiled in disgust before pouring the lot down the sink, he'd have to just have hot chocolate with water instead. The coco powder was at least still edible so he was still able to mix it with the boiling water from the kettle.

Joey collapsed onto the sofa and switched on the TV, hoping to find something better than yesterday's soap opera. He was lucky enough to come across a film, even if it was a children's one, that had only started a few minutes ago. The plot wasn't particularly great, and neither was the acting from the characters but it was good enough to kill the next hour and a half.

The credits began rolling up the screen as Joey looked across at the clock. The red glow of the numbers showed it was six. A groan escaped him as he realised he still needed to ring Seto to ask him about what he should wear for work and if he needed to bring a packed lunch or money. Where was his dad as well? He usually got back just after five, but if he was shopping for food then it wasn't that surprising he was late. Joey pulled himself to his feet and wandered into the hall to where the phone was. The answer machine light was blinking at him, telling him that there were new messages. As he was about to hit the buttons to dial the last number that called he noticed that there were four messages. He replaced the phone and clicked the play button.

"Hi Joey, it's your dad. I'm really sorry about this but I'm not going to be back for the next couple of days unless I can persuade someone else to go in my place. I'll try and ring you later on tonight. Hope you feel better soon."

That explained why he hadn't shown up from work yet. It was unusual for him to just leave like that but there must be something at work that had made him go. The next message kicked in.

"I just phoned to say hello and ask how you are. It's me, Serenity. I'm getting the train down on Saturday and was wondering if you wanted to do something together. Duke asked me if I wanted to hang out with him and go to a restaurant for lunch. Anyway call me back."

Joey tried to think of what day it might be, he thought it was Thursday but he wasn't sure.

"Joey, hi, it's Yuugi. I just phoned to ask if you were feeling any better and ask if you'd be in school tomorrow, if I don't see you before Monday, good luck with working for Kaiba. Oh by the way I gave him your number today so that he could tell you times and stuff. Bye."

The machine started playing Seto's message so Joey stopped it and picked up the phone. Now who to call first?

--

Yuugi picked up the phone as it rang. He was meant to be watching over the shop but it had been a slow day so he wasn't bothered about leaving it.

"Hello?"

"Hi Yuugi."

"Joey. Are you feeling any better?"

"Not really, I don't think I'll be in tomorrow."

"I hope you get well soon. What's wrong with you?"

"The flu, I think. What did I miss today?"

"Not much. Tea's still going on about this guy, I've started blocking her out now it's getting that irritating."

"Oh. Se-Kaiba rang, he got the answer phone because I couldn't be bothered to answer it."

"I expect he wasn't happy about that," Yuugi replied with a grin as he heard the bell in the shop. "I've got to go, customers. Hope you feel well soon."

"Ok, bye."

--

Seto stared at the computer screen, not really seeing what was on it. He'd rung Joey about an hour ago and was surprised that he hadn't got a reply yet, maybe Joey really was ill. There was a part of him that was genuinely concerned about the pup and hoped that he would ring just to say he was ok or to make fun of Seto's inability to find his mobile number, maybe even comment on how awkward he'd sounded on the phone. Thinking about the conversation made him embarrassed and if he was honest he'd have to admit that it had taken him half an hour just to get up the courage to dial the number, something about knowing Joey had a crush on him made it hard to talk to the guy. Having feelings back made it even worse and Seto wouldn't be surprised if someone in the security department had noticed his indecision over the phone on the video camera when he repeatedly started dialling part of the number before hanging up.

He glanced at his watch to see it was just after five so Mokuba would be turning up with his friends in the next hour. Roland was looking after them for now, until Seto took over and had to look after them whilst at the restaurant.

He heard talking outside his office door and recognised his secretary's voice.

"Come in," he replied to the knock at his door.

"Kaiba sir?"

"Yes?"

"I've got a basic schedule typed up for next week. Would you like me to email you a copy as well as print it out? Also I can send it to Mr Wheeler if you have his email address."

"Email me a copy and I'll forward it to him tomorrow if I can get his email address. When Mokuba and his friends turn up give me a ring so that I get a warning."

"Ok," she left the office so Seto was once again alone with his thoughts. He glanced down at the paperwork that was stacked up on his desk and sighed. Getting started on this would be a good idea, if only to clear up the place a bit before Monday. Unfortunately Mokuba was planning on making him take Saturday off to go shopping with him and Georgie, Seto would swear that Mokuba was trying to set them up, so that reduced the time he would have in the office to tidy it. Maybe he could come in on Sunday for a while to clean up the place.

--

Mokuba pushed open the doors and dashed towards the lift with his friends following. Roland tried to keep up with the group but failed as the lift doors closed before he reached them. He glanced over at the desk where the receptionist was sitting chatting with Seto's secretary. As he walked over the secretary picked up the phone to call Seto's office and told him that his younger brother and friends had arrived.

"You look fed up," the receptionist commented.

"That group is a nightmare. Why can't you and Sara look after them instead? Babysitting was not in my contract," Roland complained.

"It wasn't in mine either, but I've got to look after the work experience guy next week as well as doing my normal work so I'll happily swap with you," Sara said as she replaced the phone.

"Who's the work experience student?" Roland asked, wondering who'd managed to get Seto to let them into the company without a contract.

"I think his name's Joey Wheeler but I may have got it wrong." Roland just stared at her.

"Are you sure?"

"It's something like that. Wait a moment and I'll check; can I use your computer quickly?"

"Sure," the receptionist replied as she stepped out the way for Sara to get to the keyboard.

"Yes, Joey Wheeler."

"I never thought that I'd see the day Mr Kaiba would voluntarily spend time with him."

"You've met him before?" Sara asked.

"He was the guy who came fourth in battle city and caused all those problems when he passed out during the duel."

"I thought that him and Mr Kaiba hated each other?" the receptionist commented.

"They do so I wonder why he's letting him do work experience here?"

--

Seto replaced the phone as he began shuffling his paperwork into fairly neat piles on the desk and reached over to shut down the computer. As the logging off tune played he glanced at the clock to see it was ten past six. Mokuba was running late, but it wasn't like he minded, other than Roland was going to want a raise for having to put up with them for so long. Sometimes he wished that Roland was still scared of him. He heard the noisy group of boys in the corridor outside. Within seconds his door was forced open by Mokuba and his five friends who dashed into the office.

"Are you ready to go Seto?" Mokuba asked happily as he ran over to the desk.

"In a minute." The boys had all rushed to the windows to look out over the town; it really was a marvellous view. This was the tallest building in the whole of Domino so you could see the entire South side of town from Seto's office windows. One of the boys was commenting on the drop if you fell through the glass.

"It's special glass," Mokuba explained to them. "It's really thick and it's got a layer of that reaction lens stuff so that when the sun gets really bright the glass becomes tinted."

"That's so cool."

The phone rang on his desk and Seto considered not answering, but if he did answer he got to put off the restaurant trip so his decision wasn't that hard to make.

"Yes?" he barked into the receiver, not particularly thrilled at being interrupted with a group of six kids running loose in his office.

"Hiya Kaiba, is that you?"

"You really pick your moments' mutt. Wait a minute while I sort something out then we can chat," Seto held the phone away from his ear to talk to Mokuba. "Why don't you and your friends go down to the labs and have a go with the new duel disks? I'll just sort this out then come down and find you so that we can get going."

"Thanks, big brother. Come on guys," Mokuba said, giving Seto a hug before running back to the doors followed by his crowd of friends.

"Sounds like you're having fun, moneybags," Joey said with a laugh as Seto just growled.

"I don't know why I put up with Mokie's friends, they've only been in the building for five minutes and I can already tell I'm going to end up adding bonuses to some of my employees pay." Joey laughed as he heard Seto complaining. He could imagine Seto leaning back in his chair with a sigh, his shirt lifting slightly as he stretched. The hint of skin visible just above his belt, skin that was so pale and Joey could imagine being so sensitive to touch, and just so tempting. He had to shift slightly in his chair as a rather large problem developed.

"Mutt, are you still there?" Seto was asking when he received no answer.

"Sorry, I think I zoned out for a moment there, stupid illness."

"Are you feeling any better?" Seto asked before he could stop himself. Joey paused before answering, could it be possible that Seto actually felt compassion? Nah, he was just hoping that this illness would keep him at home all next week.

"Not much, hopefully I'll be better by Saturday, but I'm pretty sure I won't be in tomorrow. Thanks for picking up my chemistry work by the way. I didn't know that you were capable of being thoughtful."

"It wasn't me that was thoughtful, it was Dr Rose asking who was likely to see you and one of your friends telling him that you were working here next week. Speaking of which, have you got an email address I could send the schedule to? My secretary very kindly pieced a basic itinerary together for you."

"Sorry, Kaiba, not everyone is as technology dependant as you. I haven't even got a computer, let alone the internet or email." Seto's shock at this revelation was even evident down a phone line. "The answer phone is about the most complicated electronic equipment we've got in this apartment. Unless you count the duel disk I've got, I'm pretty certain that's more technologically advanced."

"How can you live without a computer?" Seto asked, still in shock. He heard Joey start laughing on the other end of the line.

"I don't run a company, and if I need to type something up for school I go round Yuugi or Tristan's house and borrow their computers. It's really quite easy to live without one; that is, if you don't use it as much as you do."

"Do you want me to try and get a print out to you or just wait until Monday?" Joey thought about the possibility of Seto dropping round to give him the print out and his missed work. One glance around the hallway was enough to dismiss that idea instantly, then another idea dawned on him.

"I'll be in town on Saturday if you want me to drop round your office to talk through it all and give me my missed work?"

"I won't be in the office on Saturday, I'm taking the day off, I'd prefer it if you don't ask for the reasons."

"Why?" Joey asked, intrigued.

"Because I'd rather be at work. I could make a detour on my way home tomorrow to give you everything?"

"I think I'll just pick it all up on Monday if that's ok."

"Fine, it doesn't bother me," Seto replied with a yawn.

"Thanks for ringing earlier. You sound really awkward on the answer phone," Joey told him whilst laughing slightly.

"I'm not used to leaving messages if they aren't for Mokuba or to yell at my employees," Seto replied uncomfortably.

"I'm glad I'm not employed by you."

"You will be temporarily next week."

"Do I get a bonus if Mokuba's friends turn up again?" Joey asked with a grin.

"You can have a ten percent pay increase if they do, but seeing as you're working for free I don't think you'll be too impressed with it."

"You're such a generous boss, Seto."

"I know." Joey was relieved that Seto's reply was almost instant, suggesting he hadn't noticed Joey's slip of the tongue in calling him by his first name.

"What am I actually doing next week then?" he asked, hoping that if he kept the conversation moving Seto wouldn't notice.

"On Monday nothing's been arranged yet, other than a tour of the office which I'll probably end up doing. Tuesday you'll be with the CG department which I'm sure you'll find at least mildly interesting as they're bound to let you mess about with the holographics and they are very laid back, with plenty of coffee breaks. Wednesday you're with the security team, I'm not sure what they'll be getting you to do, other than show you how bored they get when no one's trying to take over my company. Thursday you'll be working with my secretary unless someone else wants to volunteer to look after you and find something for you to do. Friday nothings been arranged so you'll be stuck with me again probably, hope you like paperwork because I'll have loads to do."

"Sounds like I'll have three good days at least, shame that Friday will probably be so dull but at least Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will be good."

"If you'd rather I can ask Roland to babysit you and Mokuba on Friday, I'm sure he'd be thrilled if I ask him," Seto put his feet up on his desk as he grinned. He wasn't sure if it was just the relief of finishing work for the day or hearing Joey sounding so much better that was putting him at ease enough to let himself relax this much, but he decided to wonder about it later.

"I think I'll stick with you at the office, arguing with you and messing around with your stuff could be fun." Joey smiled as he thought about the possibility of messing around with Seto in his office rather than letting Seto work, the paperwork being knocked to the floor as he pinned Seto down to the tabletop…

"Don't get your hopes up; trust me when I say that a day in my office is extremely dull. Bring along some good films and you can watch them on my TV if I can't arrange anything interesting for you on Monday. Two things though, no lewd videos and remember that I'll be in here working with you so pick something I might like."

"No lewd videos? Of course someone as against human contact as you wouldn't want anything like that. Does kissing count as too much human contact for you?" Joey was surprised as Seto burst into hysterics at the other end of the phone.

"I may act like that at school and at tournaments but I assure you, Wheeler, I am far from being a virgin." Joey just sat in silence as Seto spoke.

"That was a sentence I never expected to hear from you, dare I ask who?"

"I'm not going to recount my love life to you, besides I need to get going or Mokuba and his friends will have broken something expensive. I'll see you on Monday."

"Bye, Kaiba."

The phone line went dead and Seto stood up from his desk to try and locate the six teenagers running rampage somewhere in his company.

--

He's slept with other people? Joey felt jealous and he couldn't rationalise it to just an appreciation of the way Seto looked. He was annoyed that someone, or even more than one person, had got there first. Of course Seto had slept with other people; he was a wealthy business man with lots of admirers. People practically threw themselves at him for his money alone, add his good looks to the mix and it was highly improbable that Seto would remain single for long.

'Why did I even kid myself that I had a chance?' Joey thought miserably. 'I fooled myself into thinking that it was possible he would actually say yes and now I think I hardly even know who he is.'

Some wise people once said that nothing is impossible and that if you don't try how will you know. They were both never faced with quite this problem of having a fascination with a wealthy, good-looking CEO and now realising that he probably had to employ people just to manage the offers for relationships and marriage that he got each day. Joey slumped down in his chair, suddenly feeling a lot worse than he had when he woke up.

The sound of Seto's voice on the other end of the phone, especially when he was just being friendly and even nice, had made him feel much better. When he had made what probably counted as a joke about the ten percent pay rise Joey had actually felt like he was back to full health but that came crashing back down when Seto had made the comment about sleeping with other people. He pulled the rug around himself as he sat on the sofa miserably. The sound of a key in the door made him look up.

"Are you feeling any better, Joey?" his dad asked as he stepped into the room.

"Not really, I thought you weren't going to be back for a few days?"

"Something else came up so the trip was delayed until it gets sorted out. I hope I haven't spoiled your plans for any wild partying you were going to do with me out the way."

"With the way I'm feeling partying is out of the question," Joey said miserably as his dad sat down next to him. He looked over at the pile of magazines he'd left on the floor next to the sofa last night, the top one showed Seto on the cover wearing the new prototype duel disk. As Joey looked at the picture he felt a tear drip down his cheek and his dad put an arm round him.

"What's wrong? Is it just the flu or has something upset you?"

"I just realised that I have no chance with the person I like, that's all," Joey heard his own voice crack as he felt the tears begin flowing down his cheeks.

"What makes you think you have no chance?" his father asked as he pulled Joey into a hug, this wasn't something he was used to, comforting Joey wasn't a regular occurrence.

"Because he can have practically anyone he wants, and I'm the last person on earth he'd ever want to date." The elder Wheeler didn't miss the use of 'he' but decided not to ask about it right now.

"I'm sure this person isn't as unreachable as you seem to think. It's because you like them that you think they're perfect, I assure you that they are just like you, human and with flaws."

"You don't know him like I do, dad, I don't think I even know the real him. I used to think I did but I don't. Seto's got so many masks." Joey felt his dad pause as he said Seto's name.

"By Seto you don't mean Seto Kaiba, do you?" Joey nodded. "I thought you hated him."

"I did, but he's …" Joey tried to think how to explain his lust turned crush. "I don't know how it happened but it turned into something else."

"They do say that there's a fine line between love and hate."

"I'm not in love with the guy, dad, he's too irritating for anyone to ever love, but I want to give a relationship a chance. Who knows, maybe he could get less irritating? There's no chance though, he'd never say yes to me."

"How do you know if you don't try? You should ask him out." Joey smiled as his father said those same words as Georgie had yesterday. The exhaustion from the afternoon he'd spent awake finally got to him and he drifted off to sleep with the grin still in place. His dad carried him through to his bedroom. After putting him under the covers he walked back into the living room and picked up the pile of magazines, if his son had a crush on this guy he ought to find out about him.

--

Seto decided that he was glad he'd booked the back room of the restaurant instead of just a table in the main area. So far no fewer than three glasses had been broken, he'd had his red wine knocked over his white coat and there was still the main course and deserts to go. Seto was pretty certain he would murder someone before the end of the meal if things didn't improve. He'd already used up his excuse of important phone call at the office and was sure that trying it for a second time without a very good reason would make Mokuba annoyed with him.

The waiters brought in the main course and placed the plates in front of the group. Seto ate in silence, watching and listening to try and anticipate the next accidental damage so he could prevent it.

Strangely the rest of the meal went rather well, with only two more glasses dropped or knocked, both stopped by Seto before anything broke. The ride in the limo to drop each of the boys home was survivable as well and soon it was just Seto and Mokuba left.

"Well done, big brother," Mokuba told him with a smile on his face.

"For what?" Seto snapped back, finally letting his irritation show.

"Putting up with them and not yelling at anyone."

"I'm glad you approved, but don't think this means that you can invite them again anytime soon." Mokuba just grinned as the limo pulled up in front of their house.

--

--

Heva: I like this chapter. What do you think coel?

Coel: I think that we need more liquorice allsorts.

Heva: I actually meant about the story but it doesn't matter. We don't have anymore liquorice allsorts though, you ate the last pack and I'm not spending my money on buying you anymore. Please review and say thank you to melodyz07 again as she has been so amazingly helpful with this story. Don't expect an update until next week as this one was up earlier than I planned due to my shock at some complete idiot nearly hitting my car this morning. There is a link somewhere in my mind that makes me put up a chapter after nearly having my car made a write off.

Coel: Your mind is weird.

Heva: I'll tell you what, coel, if you promise not to tempt fate again I'll buy you some more liquorice allsorts.

Coel: Deal.

Date: 18/08/08


	3. Friday 3 days before work experience

Friday – three days to go

Coel: I thought you were going to upload this next week?

Heva: I was but I don't know when I'm free next week. Monday is the street fair; Tuesday, well I'm not sure; Wednesday I'm busy apparently, well my mum says I am; Thursday I'm cleaning; Friday I'm picking my brother up from school (three hours there and three hours back!); Saturday relatives descend on the house and I have to listen to 'Oh my hasn't your brother grown' and get carried around by my fourteen year old cousin. He finds it hilarious to pick me up so my shoulders are level with his because I'm about two feet off the ground then. He also steals my hat and puts it on his head because if I want to get it back I have to jump.

Coel: How horrible of him. Are you done complaining yet?

Heva: I've barely started but I'll just get on with the story anyway. Oh I just remembered this chapter has a bit of a lime in it, well not a very detailed one and it is all in Joey's mind.

Coel: Heva wrote that bit sat in her form room during tutor time when she was meant to be doing school work.

Heva: Enjoy the story and sorry if I don't reply to reviews, I'm busy next week as you should be able to tell from my ranting.

--

--

Friday – three days to go

--

Joey awoke with his alarm clock, he'd forgotten to switch it off yesterday. His headache had reappeared with a vengeance and the incessant beeping was intensifying it. The pillow failed to muffle it but it went silent as his hand knocked it to the floor, a satisfying crash muting the sound. He grinned and snuggled back into the covers.

Before sleep could reclaim him his dad knocked on his door.

"Are you awake, Joseph?"

"Yeah." His dad pushed open the door so that he could walk in and sit down.

"I got a phone call last night after you went to sleep from work saying I would have to go away until next Wednesday at least. I'll try and phone as often as I can."

"When do you have to leave?"

"In a few hours. I thought that in the mean time we could have a talk." Joey groaned and pulled the covers over his head.

"It's not the sex talk is it? Because we've had enough of that from our school teachers."

"No, but it's still about relationships."

"Do we have to?" he complained as his dad chuckled.

"No, we don't have to, but I thought it might be a good idea, plus I wanted to know a bit about your boyfriend." Joey pulled the blankets down to reveal a blush covering his face.

"He's not my boyfriend, and discussing it with you would just be weird."

"Why would it be weird? I just wanted to know what he's really like; your magazines by the sofa weren't very helpful."

"You read my magazines?"

"I thought that I ought to find out what he's like, just in case I end up having to talk to him when you bring him home." Joey noticed the suggestive smirk on his dad's face and felt his cheeks darken.

"This is why it's weird, and I'd never bring him back here because you'd start making comments like that."

"I promise I won't if you bring him home, as long as you promise me that you will ask him out before the end of your work experience with him next week."

"What?" Joey almost shouted as he sat bolt upright.

"Just ask him out, Joey," his dad said as he got up and left the room to go and pack his suitcase. Joey lay back down in bed to go to sleep with only one thought on his mind, how did his dad know he was doing work experience with Seto?

--

Seto woke up at five thirty, as usual on Fridays. He sighed and considered just staying in bed. It was an option he could use, but it was also a bad idea as it would mean that the paperwork he'd be missing tomorrow would continue to increase and he'd probably be unable to see his desk by Monday. Pulling himself upright he yawned and began trying to persuade his body that getting out of the cosy warmth was the right idea. As he felt his muscles waking up he managed to get out of bed and walk over to his bathroom.

His morning routine appeared slow but it was meticulously worked out to minimise the time he took to get ready, whoever knew his OCD would come in handy. Unfortunately it still took him half an hour to have a shower and get dressed.

At six o clock he was downstairs opening the cupboards to fetch out what he needed for scrambled eggs on toast. As the kettle boiled for his morning coffee, Seto broke three eggs into a bowl and put a little butter into a saucepan which he placed on the stove. The butter was fizzing quickly and Seto poured in the eggs before finding the bread and placing it into the toaster.

The sleepy form of Mokuba appeared in the doorway as Seto placed the toast onto plates and began buttering them.

"Morning Mokie."

"You sound far too cheerful."

"It's the coffee," he told his younger brother with a smile as he sipped the steaming mug. The smile was returned with a groan as Mokuba slumped in a chair at the table. He stared at Seto as he busied himself with cooking the scrambled eggs.

"I thought we were having bacon this morning?" he complained as Seto put the plates on the table.

"If you want bacon you cook it," Seto replied as he sat down opposite his brother and picked up his fork.

"I didn't say I didn't like scrambled eggs," Mokuba said as he began to eat. Seto snorted as he continued eating. Although most people assumed he was anorexic he was far from it. He loved food and ate a lot of it at home, just not at school or work because he forgot. It could be considered that he only ate when he remembered to do so, but after a few years of not eating regularly you tend to loose your appetite.

They took fifteen minutes to finish the meal and tidy away the plates. Mokuba hurried back upstairs to get dressed into his school uniform. It was only six thirty when they left the house in Seto's car, Mokuba starting to fall asleep again in the front passenger seat.

Arriving at work Seto managed to drag his sleepy brother over to the lift and carried him into his office. This was a typical Friday morning; Seto going to work for an hour and a half before school, with Mokuba asleep in his office for a good portion of that time.

Seto placed the completed paperwork into the out tray on his desk and glanced over at his little brother snoozing on the couch. They'd purchased the sofa a few years back for two reasons, the main one being for Mokuba to sleep on it when he had to come to work with Seto, but the second reason was for when Seto had guests in his office. Joey would probably end up sitting on the couch for a fair amount of time next week. Seto smiled at the thought of having Joey sat in his office, have him that close.

Mokuba groaned and rubbed his eyes as he woke up, disturbing Seto from his thoughts before they could fall into the gutter. Seto smiled at his younger sibling as Mokuba yawned.

"How long?" he asked as he stretched to release the cramp from his muscles.

"About fifteen minutes more and we'll get going. I just need to finish reading this."

"Fine. Can I watch TV?"

"Of course."

It was less than a minute before Seto asked him to turn down the volume. Mokuba cooperated and reduced the sound as the programme finished. He began channel hopping, glancing at Seto periodically to see his reaction. It usually only took five minutes before he would be told just to settle on a channel or switch it off. Today however something must have been wrong as no such comment was made. Mokuba wondered if his brother had just given up with telling him off, but Seto wasn't even looking at the TV, usually he would at least glance up to see what was on. Mokuba stopped on a channel that was showing the morning news, a programme that Seto always looked at if Mokuba put it on. Today was different, Seto didn't even give it a cursory glance in the full two minutes Mokuba left it on.

Seto eventually sighed and put his pen down on his desk.

"Ready for school?"

--

Joey woke from a rather vivid dream about dragons that was almost definitely fever induced. The apartment was silent as he pulled himself out of bed. His pyjamas were sticking to him and Joey decided that a shower was most likely the best option. He grabbed his dressing gown as he meandered his way along to the bathroom. A letter was stuck to the door, addressed to him in his dad's handwriting, and he decided to read it later, after his much needed shower.

The warm water felt delightful on his skin as it cascaded down and Joey couldn't help but groan in appreciation. He squeezed the shampoo onto his hand and began massaging it into his hair, imagining it was someone else's hands; those long, thin, feminine fingers instead of his shorter, more masculine ones. The shampoo was making bubbles which slid down his body to drip onto the bottom of the shower with the water.

Joey began to run his hands down his body towards his awakened erection. The pace was slow as he had no reason to rush this experience. One hand eventually encircled his aching need as he imagined the skin was softer instead of his rough palm. He jerked his hand a couple of times before closing his eyes. A pair of crystal blue eyes with a familiar smirk appeared in his mind as an imaginary Seto began to move his hand again. The blue eyes twinkled as the imaginary person dropped down to their knees and replaced their hand with something else.

Joey choked out a groan as the warmth of the water and texture of the soapy shampoo in his hand aided his imagination. His second hand pressed against the opposite wall to hold himself upright.

In his mind Seto was sucking and running his tongue around Joey's member before relaxing his throat to take all of Joey into his mouth. To help this Joey pushed his hips forward, possibly choking his imaginary companion, but it wasn't as if his imagination would complain.

Joey's eyes flew open when he eventually came, his seed splattering against the wall of the shower. This jerk back to reality revealed a lack of Seto in the shower with him which, although if he had appeared it would have been quite scary, was fairly disappointing.

Joey felt himself go red with embarrassment as he noticed the wall he had been facing. He managed to splash water against it, washing away the evidence of what he'd done. The lack of his dad around the apartment was a relief as he wouldn't have to explain why he was in the shower so long that the water had gone cold.

He stepped out of the shower after shutting off the water and wrapped a towel around his waist.

--

Registration was boring, as usual without the blond there to disrupt it. Fridays always brought out the best side of Joey, well the most hyper side at least. Seto let out a sigh as Yuugi told their tutor about the missing pup. He would get the mutt's address from the friendship group at sometime today and drop round after work to see how he was. He was sure that some kind of excuse would occur in his mind before lunch, even if he did have to ask Georgie for some help.

As the teacher began talking about work experience next week Seto thought through his timetable today. Physics this morning after the hour long tutor time in which they would discuss their work experience, followed by double maths with the same teacher Joey had, with a lecture from the lab technicians this afternoon that masqueraded as preparation for practical science exams. If he told the teachers that he was working with Joey next week they would give him the work he'd missed, and if he had the work then he had an excuse.

--

Daytime TV was dull and monotonous. Joey had resorted to some kind of talk show with a group of people more or less bitching about each other. The basic idea was that one of them wanted to sleep with the other guy's uncle. Joey was zoning in and out of consciousness as the mindless drivel filled the apartment with noise. The host of the show came on the screen a moment later announcing an ad break which would be followed by the 'exciting conclusion' of this argument. Despite the host's enthusiasm Joey began channel hopping again and found a far more entertaining programme on one of the news channels. The reason for his interest was the people being interviewed not why they were there.

On the news room sofa sat Pegasus and Seto with the two interviewers. The young female interviewer was chatting quite animatedly about the topic they were discussing, her eyes never once leaving Seto. The young CEO appeared to be listening to every word and was even nodding to a couple of her statements.

"Although the prototype is currently still in testing it should be ready to go into mass production next month and be on the market by the middle of December."

"Although I have the upmost confidence in Kaiba-boy's designing I think that the best estimate of the start of sales is the beginning of the school holidays and I ought to point out that your statement of a month is wrong for the viewers as this isn't going out on air until next Friday, due to someone scheduling this interview so that they didn't have to miss school." Seto sent a glare at Pegasus and Joey grinned as he saw Pegasus smile happily back, completely unfazed by the cold stare from those beautiful blue eyes.

The camera turned back to the two interviewers and the male one started saying thank you to the guests for agreeing to come on the show and telling the viewers to look out for the new duelling systems that were being launched this winter. The female interviewer had moved from the screen and as the shot panned back to the two guests it was shown that she was now sat next to Seto. Joey growled as he noticed the hand she had on Seto's leg as she leaned towards him, but what annoyed him the most was that Seto was cooperating. Seto was letting this tart hit on him in such an obvious way! He was letting her touch him whilst on TV! He was letting someone that wasn't Joey be close to him.

'It's not like I own him. I've not even told him that I like him. For all I know he might be dating her.'

The regular newsreaders were back on the screen saying that the interview was being repeated on the six o clock news on another channel but Joey wasn't really caring, he didn't want to see the slut hitting on Seto again.

--

Physics was highly entertaining as they were discussing moments in collisions and were doing a practical with crashing cars together. Seto had been put in a group with the two girls and was quite quickly put in charge of setting up the light gates to measure the speeds of the toy cars. Georgie was carrying the planks needed to make the runway for the cars while the second girl, Klaudia, was busy decorating the cars with biro after she'd been told to put some kind of mark on each of them so they could be told apart.

"There's the runway set up," Georgie said as she placed the second plank in position across the tables. "Are you two ready?"

"The light gates seem to be working."

"I've finished the cars; this one's the designer car and this one's the fake designer car." Seto resisted the urge to ask what was wrong with just labelling them 1 and 2 as he'd promised Georgie that he'd be nice.

"Doesn't that mean the second one will just fall apart?" Georgie asked with a stern glance at Seto to make sure he didn't make a comment.

"They're from our school physics department, they'll probably both fall apart."

"She's got a good point," Seto agreed. "Who's going to write down the results?"

"Do you want to, Kay?" Georgie asked.

"Sure, let me just go get some paper," she bounced off towards her folder.

"What do you see in her, Georgie?" Seto hissed quietly across the table.

"What do you see in the mutt?" Georgie shot back.

"Point taken, but she's obsessed with designer clothes and," Seto tried to think how to sum up Kay's attitude, "she's just so girly." Georgie almost laughed at Seto's defeat which resulted in his use of the word 'girly'.

"She's coming shopping with us tomorrow," Georgie told him as Kay returned holding a pad of lined paper triumphantly.

"Why do you look so shocked, Seto?" she asked as she sat down on the stool next to Georgie as the usual emotionless mask hadn't been put back in place in time.

"I was just telling him about those shoes I was looking at that were £110.00 (Heva: that's US220.00 but I don't know any other conversions). Being a guy he just doesn't understand about shoes."

"You can't put a price on comfort and looking nice. We'll have to try and educate him tomorrow when we're out shopping, Georgie," Kay told her. Seto looked back and forth between the two rather disconcerting smirks, suddenly extremely apprehensive about tomorrow.

--

Lunch time came around slowly for Seto as he was sat next to a rather too cheerful Georgie in maths. They were both taking further or advanced maths as a course this year and Seto had first made an acquaintance with her through this class. Nearing the end of the lesson, when most people were chatting, Seto decided to ask for his favour.

"Georgie?"

"Yes, Seto?"

"Can you get the mutt's address for me?" Georgie turned to look at Seto with her eyebrows raised.

"Sure, but why don't you just go and ask one of his friends for it?"

"Can you really see one of them telling me?"

"Point taken, meet me at the lockers after school and I'll give it to you if I can get hold of it. Don't get your hopes up, the office staff get a bit suspicious if I start looking up the personal information of people."

"Just tell them that you need to send his work that he's missed to him."

"I might be able to use that," Georgie said with a shrug before glancing at Seto's worksheet. "Are you planning to do any work today or just sit there? Don't tell me you've come down with the same flu as your mutt?" Seto glared at Georgie as she put a hand on his forehead. The glare was returned with a grin before she removed her hand and left Seto alone to do his work undisturbed.

--

Joey glanced around the flat's empty fridge and cupboards, trying to work out what he could eat for lunch. He sighed as he realised he needed to go out shopping or at least order takeout. Joey pulled a menu of a local pizza place that delivered from under the magnet on the door of the fridge. He glanced at the list of options they did and walked back to the hallway to grab a phone. Dialling the number he ordered the desired food and replaced the phone on the holder. It would be half an hour before the pizza arrived so he went to find where his dad had left the money for him to buy food whilst he was away. This was when he remembered the note that had been left on the bathroom door. Now where had he left it?

The bathroom proved to be empty, no sign of it anywhere.

He checked his bedroom next, having gone in there after his shower to put his dressing gown back and drop his pyjamas in a pile of to be washed clothes. The note wasn't under his dressing gown or in the pile of clothes. Joey wasn't able to see it anywhere in the room so he decided the kitchen was the best idea.

The kitchen, like the bathroom, was also empty so he left to go and find his own small supply of change in his room to pay for the take out.

By the time he located a small handful of notes he heard the knock at the door.

Opening it with the chain still on he saw the familiar outfit worn by the local pizza shop employees. He undid the chain and pulled the door fully open.

"Thanks, there's the money," Joey said taking the box in one hand and handing over the few notes he had.

"Enjoy your pizza," the delivery boy replied after counting the money. He was about to turn round and walk away when Joey stopped him. Maybe this was a stupid idea but he needed to know and this was the best way his fever clouded mind could think to find out. The guy was pushed up against the wall as Joey pushed his lips against the other's. Feeling the guy push against him in an effort to get free Joey pulled away. Before the shock had worn off the poor delivery boy Joey had slammed the door and bolted it. He leaned against it, his breath leaving in sharp pants. What on earth had possessed him to do that? Sighing he let his head hit the wooden door as he heard the delivery boy stand up on the other side.

"You know I'm used to at least diner or a movie first, and tips are usually either advice or money." The boy chuckled lightly. "I'll look forward to your next order, the name's Toboe by the way." The foot steps died away as Toboe walked back down the stairs.

'I just kissed the delivery boy', Joey thought, 'and I felt absolutely no attraction.'

--

Seto looked down at the address on the post it note Georgie had given him after school. He'd stuck it to his Sat Nav (Heva: a Satellite Navigator for those of you who might not know. I've always pictured Seto as one of those people who have one even if they don't use it or end up hitting it with a hammer out of frustration) once he got into his car. He decided to drop off at it before work as he'd be there before any of the friendship crowd could be if they decided to visit and it would mean he wouldn't talk himself out of it whilst at work.

This part of town Seto recognised from part of his life he'd rather forget. The orphanage was nearby and he remembered the gang hanging out in these streets. Breaking into the apartments and taking whatever food they could carry. Him and Tsume had stolen more than their fair share of things in an effort to provide comfort and food for those most important to them. A brief wonder of what had become of Tsume and his younger brother caused Seto to nearly drive past the apartment block he was looking for. To any passerby the forbidding grey block looked identical to the others surrounding it but the nameplate hanging to the side of the entrance told Seto that he'd reached his destination. Grabbing the bag in the passenger seat he got out of the car and locked it. A second later he unlocked it and grabbed the Sat Nav before putting it into his bag. He may hate the electronic gadget but he'd rather it wasn't stolen, he knew the type of people that hung around these places all too well.

--

Joey lay on the sofa as he heard the knock on the door. He pushed the pizza box with half the pizza still left in it onto the table, wondering who would be calling on him at this time. A glance at the clock showed it was only twenty minutes after school ended so none of his friends would have been able to turn up yet. He wondered if they would decide to visit later.

Whoever was at the door knocked a second time and Joey grumbled as he stood up.

The third knock was impatient and Joey decided to take out his current frustration on them. He'd been in a bad mood since seeing the interview this morning.

"Just give me a chance to get to the door, what's the rush anyway?" he grumbled as he walked to the door and pulled it open. The frustration was replaced with shock as he saw who was standing on the doorstep. A young CEO dressed in their school uniform with his trademark white coat nowhere in sight, Joey was quite stunned. Joey considered slamming the door and putting up with Seto's annoyance next week to prevent him seeing the state of the apartment, but the damage had probably already been done. Closing the door slightly to stop Seto being able to see inside the hallway Joey looked up at Seto's face for a reaction.

"I've got the work you've missed over the last couple of days," Seto said calmly, handing over a folder of papers. Joey took it, wishing that he could tell what Seto thought of his surroundings.

"Thanks," he replied. "You could have just waited until Monday, you know."

"I needed to give you a copy of the contract you'll need to sign on Monday to read through over the weekend. I've also included a copy of the company dress code and the working hours you'll be expected to stick to, I don't like lateness, mutt. Also I'll give you a lunch pass on Monday morning for the canteen." Joey glanced down at the thick folder he'd been given, wondering how much of it was this contract he needed to read.

"Thanks for all this, moneybags," Joey replied, unable to really think of much else to say.

"I need to get to the office," Seto said quickly as he turned and began walking away down the stairs. Joey narrowed his eyes at the retreating form of his once-rival, wondering what had made him first come here and then leave so quickly without a single comment on the mutt's apartment. A tall man with white hair and wearing black leathers walked along the landing after the CEO as Joey shut the door.

--

"In charge of a multinational company, a very successful one if the tabloids are anything to go by. I always said that you'd do well, SKF." The man said as he slid into the passenger seat of Seto's car.

"Everything comes at a price. What have you done after you left the orphanage?" Seto asked as he started up the engine and turned the car round to drive towards his office.

"Working at a local store; and the runt's a delivery boy now."

"Sounds like you're both doing quite well then."

"Reasonably, we've got an apartment and are keeping up with all the bills. How's Mokie?"

"Fine, he's doing well at school and I'm sure he'd enjoy seeing you and the runt again."

"That's good to know."

"Tsume?"

"Yes, SKF?"

"Are you busy Monday night?"

--

--

Heva: The plot thickens. Who is this mysterious man, Tsume?

Coel: A guy Seto knew at the orphanage.

Heva: Shut up Coel. I'm trying to build suspense and make the readers wonder about it.

Coel: You said earlier on in this chapter that Seto used to hang out with Tsume whilst they were at the orphanage so it's implied that they were at the orphanage together.

Heva: I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter and feel like reviewing it too. I'll try and reply to your reviews when I get the chance and put up the next chapter in just over a week.


	4. Saturday 2 days before work experience

Saturday - Two days to go

--

Coel: Heva's sulking and complaining at the moment so just enjoy the story.

Heva: I'm not sulking. I'm just tired and stressed and fed up and ill yet again. Neway enjoy the story.

--

--

Saturday – Two days to go

--

Seto was woken by Mokuba bouncing on his bed. He'd been looking forward to having a lie in this morning and assumed Mokuba would want one too. Groaning he pulled the sheets higher over his head as the younger sibling continued to bounce.

"Come on, Seto. I want to get going now," Mokuba whined, knowing Seto would give up in a minute.

"What's the time?" Seto asked, his voice muffled by the blankets that were still over his head. Before his morning coffee he was never in a good mood and it took a great deal of determination to move him out of bed or at least some good reason.

"Seven," came Mokuba's excited exclamation.

"We don't need to get to the shopping centre until ten so go back to bed and let me sleep for another hour," Seto told him before trying to push Mokuba off his bed.

"Fine," Mokuba complained as he fell to the floor and rushed out the room.

Seto sighed and tried to fall back asleep. This may have worked had Mokuba not returned within ten minutes holding a mug of coffee.

"Here's your coffee, big brother," Mokuba announced as he walked over to Seto's bedside and offered the cup to him.

"Ok, you win." Mokuba jumped onto the bed as Seto sat up and took the coffee, nearly spilling it as Mokuba landed next to him. The younger brother snuggled under the covers next to him as Seto sipped the warm liquid.

"Let's go and get some breakfast then," Seto told him after draining the mug.

--

Joey awoke to a pounding headache and felt dizzy as he sat up. He waited for the dizzy spell to end before he got up and walked into the kitchen, in the search of something to drink. It was beginning to show that he hadn't eaten much in the last three days but he still didn't feel particularly hungry. The illness must be messing with his head more than he realised. A cup of hot chocolate later found him in the shower getting ready to meet up with Serenity at the train station. He'd phoned her back last night and agreed to meet her off the train at quarter past nine.

Pulling on a pair of jeans and an old t-shirt he grabbed the remains of the money he'd found last night and shoved it into a pocket. Glancing around the apartment briefly to see if there was anything obvious he ought to take he noticed the folder of work Seto had left him to look at last night. He'd glanced at the contract yesterday evening, and felt completely lost when reading the technical wording. Grabbing the folder and pulling out the five A4 sheets that made up the contract he folded it up so he could put it into his back pocket.

Leaving the apartment he closed the door and locked it before walking along the landing towards the stairs. As he began descending the stairs he thought back to Seto's lack of reaction to where he lived last night. Wondering how Seto had even got hold of his address in the first place Joey failed to notice the man walking up the stairs ahead of him. Without meaning to he walked straight into him and they fell backwards so that Joey was straddling the stranger's hips.

"Watch where you're going, kid," the stranger complained as he shoved Joey backwards onto the hard concrete. Joey glared at the stranger as the guy stood up and began walking up the stairs away from Joey. If it had been a normal day Joey would have ended up punching the stranger, but he needed to get to the station to meet Serenity. He glanced over his shoulder at the guy to fix his image in his mind in case of future meetings. The white hair pulled back in a high ponytail and tight black leathers with slits over the shoulders to free up movement. His retreating back was fixed with a glare as Joey pulled himself upright.

Pushing the incident from his mind he started making his way down the stairs before spotting a piece of paper. He bent down and picked up the crumbled note. As he left the apartment complex he began reading the note and began wondering who had dropped it.

--

Serenity stepped off the train and glanced around the platform, trying to spot her older brother. Eventually she spotted him near the exit into town and hurried over.

"Joey, what's wrong?" Serenity asked as she saw the frown on her brother's face.

"I've been trying to understand Kaiba's contract again and I really don't get it."

"Well let's go and sit in a café somewhere to read it through."

--

Seto glanced out the car window as he pulled up outside the multi-storey car park. Mokuba was still bouncing up and down in the front seat, his hyper mood starting to get on Seto's nerves.

"Do you want to go and wait for me in the shopping centre?" Seto asked, wanting to get Mokuba out of the car before he yelled at him to shut up.

"Thanks big brother, I'll see you in a few minutes," Mokuba told him happily as he jumped out of the car. Seto sighed in relief as he joined the queue of cars trying to get into the car park. He hated being at the shopping centre on Saturdays, it was always crowded.

It took over ten minutes for Seto to get into the car park complex and find a parking space.

--

Seto walked slowly to the main shopping area, having had to experience the packed lift ride from the top floor of the car park. He glanced around the area, trying to spot an elusive mop of black hair. Failing in this task Seto sighed and decided to wait around for a little while before phoning his little brother's mobile to ask where he'd run away to.

"Seto!" came a yell as two people ran into him.

"Please don't tell me that Mokuba's enthusiasm has infected you too?" he asked the girl hugging his waist.

"Lighten up, Seto," was her only reply.

"Come on, let's go look at the shops," Mokuba told them as he grabbed hold of both their hands and began dragging them towards the nearest store.

--

Seto was trying to decide which was worse; Mokuba's choice of shops, toy and video stores, or Georgie's choice, shoe and unusual clothing shops. He disliked both, but at least the clothing stores Georgie wanted to look at weren't very popular with the crowds so weren't packed full of customers. However these clothes shops had customers that Seto was pretty sure went home and performed strange pagan rituals in their basements, in other words Gothic horror nutcases.

Currently they were in one of these shops; Mokuba looking through the variety of coats, Georgie in the changing rooms trying something on and Seto glancing around at the boots and belts on display. He'd noticed the prices a little while ago and was wondering how Georgie was going to break the news to her parents if she bought something. There was no way a typical teenage allowance was going to cover any of this.

"What do you think?" Georgie asked as she stepped out of the changing rooms wearing a new black skirt and top.

"You look like a witch," Seto told her without turning to look at her.

"Sometimes I wish I was," she muttered putting her hands on her hips.

"I think you look great," Mokuba responded, holding a coat out from the rack.

"Thanks. I think that's a little big for you though, Mokuba," Georgie said as she walked towards him to look at the coat.

"I wasn't thinking of wearing it myself," he told her as he held up the coat and looked over at Seto with a grin. Georgie giggled and whispered something to Mokuba before leaving to get changed again.

"Seto?" Mokuba asked quietly.

"Yes?" Seto replied, turning to face Mokuba who was holding the coat still.

"Try it on," he told Seto as he held the coat towards him. Considering that his long white coat still had the red wine stain from Thursday, and his purple coat was beginning to wear through on the elbows, he needed to get a new one. Sighing Seto took the offered coat and put it on.

The mirror near the changing rooms was full length and Seto stared at his reflection in it. Mokuba had good taste picking this coat out for him, blue was definitely his colour. This coat nearly swept the floor and was very similar to his white one except for it's navy blue colour, long sleeves and buckles to do up the front of it.

"That looks good on you," Georgie commented as she left the changing rooms and walked over to the shop assistant.

'Maybe Saturday shopping isn't too bad after all,' Seto thought as he pulled his wallet out of his pocket to pay for the coat.

--

"You look fine, I'm sure Duke will love that outfit, Serenity. Can we go yet?" Joey complained as his younger sister showed him probably the fourth outfit from this shop alone.

"You don't think it makes me look a bit slutty?" she asked.

"Not at all," Joey told her in an effort to try and leave the store in the near future.

"I think I prefer the green one," she muttered. "Let's go look in another shop, after I get changed." She disappeared back into the changing room.

--

It was only an hour until Joey was sat with Serenity in a café with a couple of hot chocolates but to Joey it felt like five hours had gone by whilst he waited for his sister to make her decision.

"This is really confusing, can't you get Kaiba to explain it to you?"

"If I ask that jerk for help he'll never let me live it down, sis," Joey complained.

"He's not that bad, Joey. I'm sure if you ask him nicely he'll go through the contract with you. Maybe, whilst you're working with him next week, give him my number," Serenity said with a grin.

"What?" Joey asked, quite shocked at Serenity's boldness.

"I'm only joking, Joey. He may be extremely attractive, rich and have great connections but I would never date him. His workaholic lifestyle and arrogance would drive me mad."

"You sure that's all that's wrong with him?"

"Nope, I was trying to be nice."

"Why?"

"Come on, Joey, it's obvious you like him."

"What?"

"Please tell me that you have come to terms with it already." Joey just stared at her in shock.

"Does everybody know about this and no one decided to tell me?"

"Probably, you've never been very good at hiding anything, Joey."

"Oh, great," Joey muttered sarcastically.

"Come on, Joey, it's not that bad. I'm not sure who knows, really, other than Duke. He was the one to point it out to me actually."

"He's bound to have told the rest of the group as well then."

"He promised me he wouldn't say anything to them, actually."

--

"Hey Mokuba!"

"I didn't realise you were in town today."

"Yeah, well I'm never sure if Seto's going to come up with a reason to skip our shopping trips."

"Why don't you go off with your friends?" Georgie asked.

"Can I Seto?"

"I don't see why not," Seto replied to his younger brother, receiving a hug and claims of being the best brother ever in return before Mokuba ran off with the group. "Wait a moment so…" Seto fell silent as he realised Mokuba was out of hearing distance.

"I'm sure you can just phone him when you want to leave, he's got his mobile with him hasn't he?" Georgie asked, knowing what Seto was likely to be worried about.

"Fine. What do you want to do now?" Seto sounded fed up, but it wasn't something Georgie was unused to hearing from the CEO.

"Well, it's nearly eleven so I think we should go and see if Kay's around." Seto groaned at Georgie's enthusiasm, reminding him far too much of Mokuba that morning. What was it with people and enthusiasm today? Everyone except him seemed to have caught it, maybe he was just immune.

"Lead the way," he growled out.

--

Kay huffed as she glanced around the shopping centre. She'd got a lift there early as her mother was going to the airport and had been worried about traffic. Glancing round the shoe shops she'd already seen a pair of shoes but wanted to ask Georgie's opinion before she bought them.

"Kay!" came a yell from behind her.

"Georgie!" she yelled back as she saw the culprit.

"Oh great, I'm out numbered," Seto muttered, earning an elbow in the ribs from Georgie.

"How long have you been waiting?" Georgie asked to distract from the way Seto was now clutching his side in pain.

"About half an hour; Mother decided she wanted to set off early en case the traffic was bad."

"You should have rung, we've been in town for the past two hours."

"Well we've met up now so how about I show you the most gorgeous pair of shoes I spotted earlier." Kay grabbed Georgie's arm and began to drag her towards a nearby shoe shop. Seto sighed and followed the pair, hoping this wouldn't take too long.

--

Shoe shopping was torture Seto had now decided, especially when Kay and Georgie tried to choose shoes for him to try on. Kay had decided that Seto's boots needed changing for a new pair that matched his new coat; apparently a matching outfit was of extreme importance and would take a lot of careful consideration. Seto had tried to argue that he liked the first pair of shoes that had been picked out by Kay but they hadn't been quite right according to the girls' more fashion conscious minds. They hadn't chosen to explain to him what was wrong with them; his masculine mind would be unable to understand it apparently.

"These might work," Kay told Georgie as they walked back towards where Seto was sitting holding a few pairs of boots and shoes each.

"Try these on first, Seto," Georgie said as she handed the recommended boots over to him.

"Fine," Seto complained, having realised that arguing with these two wasn't an option he would live through, he had decided that for pure self preservation he should agree with any commands they gave him. Pulling on the boots he noticed the size of the heels they had and wondered how the girls expected him to walk in them. They were surprisingly comfortable and he amazed himself by being able to stand up without any problems at all.

"Those really suit you. Kay you have an amazing taste in shoes," Georgie told her companion as Seto took a few hesitant steps in the new shoes.

"I'm glad you noticed. What do you think of them, Seto?"

"They're comfortable, but they're quite hard to walk in."

"You'll get used to it," Kay assured him with a smile. Seto considered telling them both that he had no intention of getting used to walking in heels but self preservation was still fairly important to him so he kept his mouth shut.

"Now, while Seto gets used to walking in those I think we should choose some shoes for ourselves, Kay," Georgie suggested, leading Kay towards a rack of shoes. Seto walked around the shop a couple of times, marvelling at the ease of walking he found despite the heels.

--

Joey looked away from the couple as Duke greeted Serenity with a kiss. He felt like walking over and hitting Duke before yelling at the guy to leave his little sister alone, but Serenity would never forgive him if he did.

"Hi Joey."

"Hi Duke, what've I missed while I've been ill then?"

"Not much really, all anyone's been talking about recently is work experience."

"Sounds boring."

"It has been rather dull, but one interesting thing has happened. This rumour's started about Kaiba and that Georgie girl you were talking about on Wednesday. No one can work out where it started and I didn't believe it until I spotted the two of them in town this morning."

"They're in town?" Joey asked, he knew the rumour was a load of rubbish but if Seto was in town then maybe he could get a chance to talk to him in a place where he had the upper hand. There was no way Seto would be comfortable in town so Joey would be in control of the conversation, unlike how next week would be when Seto would be the one in charge.

"Yeah, someone else was with them as well. I didn't recognise her but Kaiba looked rather fed up. I'm not really surprised he was annoyed though, they were in a shoe shop, but he's got to be getting something in return or he'd never stay there for long."

"I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation why he's in a shoe shop with this girl that has nothing to do with them dating," Serenity said forcefully glaring at Duke, worried that the conversation might be upsetting her brother.

Joey felt a grin appear on his face at the thought of Seto having to put up with two girls in a shoe shop.

'I won't be in the office on Saturday, I'm taking the day off.'

So he was in town with Georgie, it made sense that he wouldn't want to admit that on the phone, and why he'd rather be at work. Pulling himself out of the entertaining thoughts of Seto being dragged around the shops by Georgie and Mokuba he followed Duke and Serenity towards another clothes shop.

--

"What shall we do now?" Georgie was asking Kay as they walked out of the shop.

"We could get something to eat. It's past lunch time and I'm starving. What do you think Seto?" Kay asked, turning to look at the third member of their group who was now stuck carrying their shopping. The argument hadn't lasted long over who carried the bags and Seto was considering whether this self preservation was really that great as it seemed to be the root of his current problems.

"Fine," was his one word answer, his vocabulary seemed to have dropped to just that one word over the last couple of hours.

"That's settled then. I think the restaurants are upstairs," Georgie started saying as she looked around for a staircase.

"I'm not going up stairs," Seto complained, causing both girls to turn and look at him.

"I suppose you aren't used to the shoes yet," Kay said with a smile whilst trying to look thoughtful. She didn't manage to fully pull it off.

"I never thought that I'd see you here, moneybags," Joey commented as he saw the group.

"Hello Joey. I didn't realise you were in town today as well," Georgie greeted him. "Who are your friends?"

"Hi, I'm Serenity, Joey's sister, and this is Duke."

"It's nice to meet you, Serenity, and I think I've seen you round school before, Duke."

"Probably, congratulations about you and Kaiba by the way," Duke replied, shaking Georgie's offered hand. Kay started laughing as Georgie and Seto looked confused.

"What are you talking about?" Georgie asked, glancing around the group for clues.

"There's been a rumour about you and Seto going around school," Kay explained. "It's complete rubbish, anyone who actually knows you two knows that there's no chance you two would ever get together. I mean for a start Seto's gay and"

"Kay, I think it might be best if you were quiet now," Georgie suggested as she moved so that she was stood between Seto and Kay.

"Oops, sorry Seto," Kay said with a grin, obviously not particularly sorry for kicking him out of the closet.

"Georgie, you know that when I ask you not to tell anyone that does include your gossip loving friends," Seto said in a quiet threat.

"Yeah I know, only I didn't tell her, I just confirmed her suspicions when she asked me if I knew," Georgie grinned up at Seto's glare.

Joey smiled to himself as he felt his confidence returning; Seto had more or less just admitted to being gay, meaning that he never felt any attraction to that news reader and there was just that bit more of a chance he could say yes to Joey.

"Joey, are you ok?" Serenity was asking him.

"Yeah, I think so." Joey placed a hand to his forehead, pretending to feel a bit faint.

"Do you want to go and sit down?" Serenity asked, concern showing in her voice.

"It might be a good idea."

"We were just about to go and get something to eat so you can come with us," Georgie suggested.

"I think that's a great idea," Duke said quickly, eager to get to spend time alone with Serenity.

"I've got a better idea," Kay spoke up. "Seto didn't seem to want to go get food so why don't him and Joey go to that coffee shop over there until Joey feels better?" A grin was exchanged between Georgie and Kay, while Seto glared daggers at them both.

--

Joey glanced around the café, looking anywhere but at Seto. It still mystified Joey how mesmerising Seto was, if he looked at Seto it just seemed impossible to look away. He accidently let his gaze drift back to the guy on the other side of the table and watched Seto sip his coffee. Joey stayed transfixed as he saw the muscles in Seto's throat move as he swallowed the warm liquid. The coffee cup was lowered and Seto's lips were moving again, it took a moment before Joey realised Seto was talking to him.

"Are you even listening, mutt?"

"Sorry what?" Joey asked as he shook himself out of his daze.

"I was asking why you were watching me, but I assumed you passed out again when you didn't seem to notice."

"I could have been ignoring you," Joey pointed out, glad Seto had just assumed that it was his illnesses fault that he'd appeared to be staring at Seto's lips instead of the real reason.

"I suppose a mutt like you might do something as immature as that."

"I'm an immature mutt now, am I? Well now that I've found some new dirt on you that I'm pretty certain you wouldn't want spread to the press I'm not feeling so immature."

"You're still immature if you think that you can make blackmail work on me, mutt."

"It was a long shot, I suppose, if you could be intimidated by threats you wouldn't still be in charge of Kaiba Corp."

"Probably not, but I think I'll add not talking about my preferences to your contract."

"Oh and speaking of the contract could you," Joey paused, looking sheepish, "explain it to me?" 'I'm never going to live this down, he's not going to shut up about how he had to explain it to me.'

"I suppose so, have you got it with you?" 'He's not making fun of me? He actually agreed to help me? I think there's something wrong with him at the moment, maybe he's ill.'

"Sure." Joey pulled the contract out of his pocket and dropped it onto the table. As the contract fell to the plastic surface the note fell out with it. Having forgotten abut it Joey unfolded it and scan read the first few lines. "I forgot about this, this guy dropped it this morning on the stairs, what do you think it's about?" Joey handed the note across to the CEO.

"It's a note from someone to their 'dear friend SKF'. I should think it's just a note from one friend to another, nothing particularly interesting," Seto said as he dropped it back to the tabletop.

"I suppose so," Joey agreed, suspicious at Seto's quick dismissal of the piece of paper and insistence that it's a perfectly innocent note, even with the comment at the end that was most definitely meant to be suggestive. 'Looking forward to reigniting the sparks from the past with a fitting explosion.' In Joey's mind there was no way this sentence could be anything except flirting, and the rest of the note was about meeting up for diner together.

"Ok what do you want me to explain?"

"All of it," Joey admitted with a sigh as Seto began the laborious task of explaining the complicated contract.

--

"Why would anyone feel the need to even say that in a contract? Of course I'm not going to kill you."

"I'm glad to hear it."

"What have you two been up to?" Kay asked with a suggestive grin as her, Georgie and Mokuba entered the cafe.

"I've been explaining the contract to the mutt," Seto replied, ignoring the grin from Kay.

"Seto?"

"Yes Georgie?"

"Can I talk to you outside for a minute please?"

"Of course," Seto said as he stood up from the table and followed Georgie outside the café.

"What are they talking about?" Joey asked the two newcomers as they pulled over some more seats and sat down.

"I'm not sure," Kay said as she helped herself to the plate of biscuits in the middle of the table, Joey had left a few of them for Seto but the CEO hadn't made any moves to eat them so they were fair game now. "What's this?" she asked as she picked up the note that was still on the table.

"It's a note someone dropped this morning," Joey told her as he took one of Seto's biscuits from the plate.

"Who's SKF?"

"That was Seto's nickname in the orphanage, it stood for Freaky Kid Seto, except backwards. I can't remember the reason for it being backwards."

"Why'd anyone call him freaky?" Kay asked Mokuba as Joey stared at the note. Seto really did know more than he was saying then, the note was meant for him.

"You have met my brother, haven't you?" Mokuba asked her. So Seto had realised that the letter was for him and hadn't wanted Joey to know.

"Yes, and he's not that different from anyone else in school." Why didn't Seto want Joey to know that he had a boyfriend? Did Seto think Joey would tell everyone?

"He's the youngest CEO of a multinational company ever; he's not just different, he's beyond being just different." Did Seto not trust Joey with that kind of information? Did Seto really just think of Joey as an 'immature mutt' who wasn't worth telling things too?

"Are you ok, Joey?" Georgie asked as her and Seto walked back into the café.

"Not brilliant, I think I ought to go home and get some rest."

"I hope you feel better soon," Kay told him. "Physics just isn't the same without you."

"Thanks."

"I'm sure Seto wouldn't mind giving you a lift home, would you big brother?" Mokuba asked, a slight hint of annoyance could be heard behind the usual happy tones of the youngest Kaiba.

"Of course, do you want to get going now?"

"Have fun next week," Kay said as the three boys walked towards the door.

"Bye," Georgie told them.

"I hope you enjoy your work experience," Joey replied as he followed the two Kaiba's.

"Good bye you two," Mokuba said happily. Seto remained silent, glancing at his younger brother occasionally as the group made their way to the car park.

--

Joey fell into bed almost instantly, his clothes still on and thoughts of the car ride back in his mind. Mokuba's comments were haunting his consciousness as he tried to make sense of it all.

'"Why didn't you tell me that Tsume was back?"

"I didn't think you liked him that much."

"You were eight, Seto!"'

It was the last comment that was confusing Joey, they'd fallen silent after that statement leaving him completely baffled by the exchange. What had happened when Seto was eight? Had this Tsume guy taken advantage of him or had Seto consented? Remembering how he'd felt like raping Seto at one point he wouldn't be that surprised that someone else had thought the same way, but thinking and doing were two very different things. Maybe he was jumping to conclusions. Seto and Tsume may have just started dating and Mokuba blamed the guy for warping his brother's mind into liking guys not girls.

Joey closed his eyes and felt himself drift off to sleep, his dreams filled with images of Seto and some faceless stranger taking advantage of him.

--

--

Heva: The plot thickens. What will happen next I wonder?

Coel: Are you suspense building again?

Heva: I was trying to. I don't think I'm very good at it though. Please review, reviews make me happy.

Coel: When do you think you'll be able to upload the next chapter?

Heva: No idea. I'm sorry but it may not be up until next Saturday, it depends on how much work I have to end up doing this week as I'm back at sixth form and have to finish my personal statement and university applications. Oh well, I'll try and upload when I can, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

--

Date: 31/08/08


	5. Sunday 1 day before work experience

Sunday – one day to go

--

Heva: I said I'd upload this sometime last week, and on Saturday at the latest.

Coel: Its Sunday now.

Heva: I know that Coel. I do have excuses though; do you want to hear excuse number one, number two or number three?

Coel: I don't care, it's your readers that might care.

Heva: Well first excuse is I'm now back at school so have work to do for that, second excuse is that I was babysitting yesterday and the third excuse is Trevor.

Coel: Trevor?

Heva: Trevor is a rook who I rescued on Friday and he is so cute and such a beautiful bird. I wanted to keep him but we had to release him back into the wild.

Coel: Just get on with the story. Heva doesn't own Yugioh, but she does own the OCs and the plot. Also say thank you to melodyz07 as she has kept Heva focused on the story and without her help this story would never have been uploaded.

--

--

Sunday – one day to go

--

"Georgie?" Mokuba asked with a yawn as he answered the phone. He'd been woken up by it from a rather pleasant dream so his bad mood was beginning to return.

"Morning Mokuba. Has Seto left for work yet?"

"I've no idea, he hasn't spoken to me since diner last night."

"What's happened between you two?" she asked, still completely clueless of what had happened yesterday.

"It's Tsume. I just don't want …" Mokuba fell silent as he tried to think of how to explain things to Georgie.

"Who's Tsume?"

"An old friend, him and his younger brother were with me and Seto at the orphanage."

"Oh, what happened?"

"We got separated. When me and Seto were adopted we lost contact."

"I'm assuming that Tsume's come back, and you don't want him back for some reason. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Maybe later, Georgie. What were you ringing about anyway?"

"Well, you see, I wanted to talk to you about a certain mutt and a rather distinguished CEO." Mokuba smiled as he listened to Georgie's plan, happy for the distraction from last night's argument.

--

Seto rubbed his hands over his eyes in an effort to keep himself focused on the paperwork in front of him. He'd had barely any sleep last night after the shouting match him and his younger brother had participated in. Maybe not telling Mokuba had been a mistake, but the youngster's dislike of 'what he made you do' seemed worse than the fact Seto had tried to keep Tsume's reappearance secret.

'Have you forgotten how he forced you to do it, Seto?'

Mokuba's words still rang in his ears. He'd never forget that first time, and he'd never forgive himself for agreeing to it instead of refusing like he should have done. The problem was that he was never really forced into anything, he'd been completely aware of what he was doing and still consented.

--

Joey awoke to the ringing phone and reached up to his bed side table thinking that the irritating noise was his alarm clock. When his hand couldn't find it he heard the answer phone cut in and realised that his alarm clock wasn't making the wake up call.

"Hi, Joey. It's Georgie, I know I shouldn't really be doing this but I called because Mokuba told me about what happened in the car last night after you guys left and I thought it was only fair that someone try and explain it to you. Now where to start. Well, basically Seto's been talking to this guy him and Mokuba used to know at the orphanage, and he didn't tell Mokuba about it, so Mokuba's been annoyed about that. Anyway they're not talking to each other and sulking about it all like a couple of children. Have fun tomorrow putting up with Seto, I don't envy you in the slightest."

Joey leaned back in his bed, having not moved from under the covers as he listened to the message. So Tsume was a friend of Seto's from the orphanage who'd just showed up again, that explained why he'd never seen Tsume before. The fact Seto hadn't even told Mokuba about Tsume's reappearance made it more understandable why Seto denied knowing anything about the note. But why hadn't Seto told Mokuba? What was he trying to hide about this guy? There was still the matter of 'You were eight, Seto!'

What was going on with the blue eyed CEO and his messed up life? Joey felt like giving up trying to understand Seto and trying to ignore his attraction to him. His mind was telling him that it was the most sensible thing to do, he'd ignored his attraction so far and it would pass, wouldn't it? This attraction wasn't the typical teenage hormones or even crush any more though, it had changed into actually wanting a relationship. He wanted to take Seto out to a restaurant to chat and find out what food he liked. Take him to see a film and share his popcorn with him, from what he'd seen Seto wouldn't eat much of the popcorn so there was no problem with running out of it. He wanted to go to the park and watch the sunset with him, whilst making sure Seto's phone was off so that it couldn't ruin the moment.

A smile spread across his face as he thought about the possibilities.

It would never happen though with this other guy on the scene. Tsume was in the way; a guy Seto had history with, obviously still cared about him and wasn't … an immature mutt.

Joey closed his eyes as he felt the tears begin to fall again. This illness must be getting to him, he'd never felt this emotional before in his whole life.

--

Seto continued to tap his biro on the desk as he stared blankly at the sheets in front of him. He just couldn't focus on it at the moment; Mokuba was angry at him, Tsume was planning to turn up at his office tomorrow to pick him up for diner and who knew what was going on with Joey right now, the guy had looked like an emotional wreck when Seto left him at his front door yesterday.

"What am I going to do?" Seto said as he put his head in his hands after letting the pen drop to the floor by his foot. "If I try and talk to Tsume to cancel tomorrow night I may not get another chance to see him again but Mokuba might actually carry out his threat of leaving if I don't cancel. If I try and rearrange meeting up with Tsume without Mokuba knowing he'll kill me in my sleep when he finds out. If I try and explain things to Tsume, or make Tsume and Mokuba talk to each other it could work out, but Mokuba might never forgive me if I do. This is so complicated."

A knock on his office door made him look up.

"Come," he coughed realising his voice was a bit hoarse and tried again. "Come in."

"Mr Kaiba, I've found the details you asked about and the gentleman is waiting in the lobby. Would you like me to send him up and email you the details?"

"Thank you, Sara."

"Very good, sir. Oh, and a young lady turned up a few minutes ago asking for you. She wouldn't give me her name, just said that she hoped the boots haven't given you any problems."

"Was this girl wearing designer clothes?" Seto asked with a sigh.

"Yes, sir."

"Send her up first."

"Of course," Sara said with a grin as Seto put his head back in his hands. She had been told by the previous secretary what to expect from Seto's acquaintances, although none of them would call themselves such. Seto would have people turn up from time to time who would ask for him and refuse to give their name, instead asking for a brief message to be passed on, and it was best not to pry into what they wanted, especially if they were male. It would often be an hour before the person left, looking either angry, pleased with themselves or completely relaxed. Sara would then have to enter the room and act as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

'You are paid not to see certain things,' her predecessor had told her.

"Are you going to stand there all day or show Kay up here?" Seto asked as he looked back up from his desk.

"Yes, of course, sir," Sara answered quickly as she rushed to the door.

'She better not be going down with Joey's cold, that's the last thing I need right now,' Seto thought icily as he tried once again to focus on his paperwork.

--

Kay glanced around the lobby from her seat next to the receptionist's desk. She had decided that the plastic plants around the place were too tacky, and had every intention of telling Seto such when he eventually let her upstairs to talk to him. Letting out an annoyed huff she made a big show of yawning and looking at her watch. The receptionist at the desk tried not to laugh and looked away to continue typing on her computer.

"Mr Kaiba will see you now, miss," Sara said as she walked over from the lifts.

"It's about time. Do you have any idea how boring it is waiting down here?"

"If you would just follow me, I'll show you to his office," Sara told her as she turned to walk to the lift. 'It's not your place to question the reasons,' her predecessor said in her mind.

"You know you don't have to be so formal with me, if I wanted people acting like that I'd just go back to Daddy's mansion."

'So this was about connections with powerful families then. It made sense, the two were probably doing this to keep the girl's parents happy,' Sara thought.

"We'll be there soon," she replied, just wanting to get this over with.

"Is that starched collar cutting off your air supply? You can relax, I don't bite."

"It would seem improper for me to be informal towards one of Mr Kaiba's acquaintances."

"Mr Kaiba's acquaintance? I'm in the guy's physics class, not a business partner. If you ask me he's intelligent and cute, but I'm not an acquaintance in that way either."

"You go to school with him?" Sara asked, turning to look at the girl.

"Yeah."

"Do you know Joey Wheeler?"

"Yeah, he's in physics with me and Seto. Rumour has it that something's going on between the two of them, and I didn't believe it to begin with. I mean the way those two get at each other all the time, they seem to hate each other, but then Georgie pointed out that they may be in denial. That got me thinking, then seeing them together yesterday I'm convinced they like each other, but don't tell Seto I told you or he'll throw a tantrum."

"I'll try and be discreet," Sara told her with a smile. 'So Seto and this work experience student liked each other, that explained a lot,' she thought as the lift opened at the top floor. "Mr Kaiba's office is just down the hall, it's the door with his name on it."

"I'm sure I'll be able to spot it. His arrogance and self importance will guide me to him," Kay said with a grin. "It was nice to meet you."

"It was nice to meet you too," Sara replied with a grin at Kay's statement.

--

Joey collapsed onto the sofa in front of the TV again, and ate the remains of his cold pizza. Looking at the now empty box he was reminded of his encounter with the delivery boy and suddenly felt all appetite leave him. After emptying his stomach contents in the bathroom he decided that the best task he could do now would be to find some films to take with him tomorrow.

The DVD cupboard was in his dad's bedroom, and Joey felt a bit uncomfortable sitting on the unused bed. He remembered the last thing he'd talked about with his dad, and the promise that had been made between them. Well there was no way he was going to ask Seto out now, not when Seto was with Tsume. Thoughts of that note entered his mind, but were quickly replaced with thoughts of the note his dad had left.

"Shit. I still haven't found that note. Where could it have gone?" Joey asked the room. No reply was given so Joey let himself fall backwards onto the bed.

"What should I do?" he asked again.

"No ideas either, huh? I'm going mad, I'm talking to myself." Joey sighed and shut his eyes, hoping to fall asleep again. Unfortunately sleep didn't come and he just lay there trying to clear his mind, eventually he gave up and sat up to start the task he'd intended to do when he first entered the room.

"I wonder what sort of films he likes? I'll just take a range of good ones and ask him tomorrow." Joey began to pull a few of the DVDs off their shelves and put them into a pile next to him. After he had about twenty sitting on the carpet he decided he had enough and stood up to go and find a bag to put them in. As he stepped into the hallway he had inspiration and put the stack down on the table next to the phone. Picking up the handset he set it to ring the last person who called and waited for an answer.

--

"Are there actually any real plants in this whole building?" Kay asked as she pushed open the doors.

"Hello, it's nice to see you too, Kay," Seto replied without looking up from his desk.

"Sorry for being rude. I've just been stuck in your lobby for hours and it's so deathly boring down there. Also I think you need to get this whole place redecorated, make it a bit more fashionable."

"This is an office, not your house."

"I was just making suggestions," Kay commented as she walked over to the windows and looked out over the city. "This is a great view, I wanted a view like this from my bedroom but Daddy said it wasn't possible and bought me some new clothes instead."

"That's nice. What did you want, Kay?"

"Of course, sorry I got distracted by the complete lack of fashionable décor. I came round to ask you what you think you're doing by not asking him out." Kay had walked round the front of Seto's desk and was now leaning on it so that her face was level with Seto's. To say Seto was speechless was an understatement, he was completely stunned by the forwardness of the sentence.

"It's obvious that you like each other, yet neither of you do a single thing about it. It must be something about men, you're all the same, useless." Seto continued to stare at her in a state of immobility as Kay told him why she wouldn't have to intervene if only he was female.

"And that's why you brought this on yourself. I should become a relationship counsellor. I already help half the school sort out their problems, so it wouldn't be that hard to get started. I ought to get going, have fun next week, and ask him out." Kay straightened up and walked back towards the door, before she left she paused and turned round with a grin still in place. "Oh, and those boots really do suit you, Seto."

Seto stared after her, his paperwork completely forgotten. Only one concrete thought was running through his mind, 'what does Georgie see in that girl?

--

"Hello?" a thickly accented voice answered the phone.

"Hi, it's Joey Wheeler. Is Georgie there?"

"I will go and fetch her for you."

"Thanks," Joey replied as he waited for the woman to find Georgie.

"Hi, Joey. I hope mum didn't confuse you too much, her accent gets lots of people muddled."

"Nah it's ok."

"That's good. Sorry can you hang on a moment, I just heard the doorbell go."

Joey leant against the wall whilst he waited for her to come back to the phone.

"I'm back. Mokuba's just turned up and he looks ready to cry so is it ok if I call you back once I sort this out?"

"Yeah sure."

"Ok, bye for now."

"Bye," Joey replied as he hung up the phone. 'That was useless,' he thought miserably, 'I wonder why Mokuba's so upset. I would have thought him and Seto would have sorted things out by now. There's no sense in wondering about it though.'

Joey wandered into his room trying to remember what else he needed to get ready for tomorrow. He remembered Seto saying something about a dress code so that was a good place to start. Picking up the folder off his desk he searched through it for the sheet on dress codes, what he found wasn't quite what he expected. The first surprise was that it had writing in the margins that Joey recognised as Seto's neat lettering. What the words said was even more surprising.

'I guessed that you wouldn't have a smart outfit to wear so I had a look through some of my outfits. I've found a few pairs of smart trousers and a couple of jackets that should fit you which I'll bring in on Monday. If you do own some yourself I'm sorry for doubting that a mutt could smarten up.'

'He's lending me his own clothes to wear?' Joey thought, shocked. 'He probably just doesn't want me letting down his company's reputation by looking scruffy.' Feeling like he'd justified Seto's decision Joey began looking through his own clothes to find some shirts, he knew he didn't have any suitable jackets, and some trousers that would be presentable enough to wear to Seto's company.

'I wonder if I should try and gel down my hair,' he thought as he caught sight of himself in the mirror. He tried to flatten his hair with his hands to get an idea of what it would look like if he did. This failed so he went to the bathroom and found some gel to slick it down with. Looking critically at himself in the mirror he grimaced.

"I look like a drowned rat. No probably more like a drowned mutt," he complained to himself before trying to wash out the gel.

It took him another half an hour to find a set of five shirts which he thought would pass Seto's criticisms. He could only find two pairs of trousers, both of which needed cleaning, and decided that Seto had offered him some smart trousers so they'd have to do.

The phone rang from the hallway as Joey began attempting to wash out the gel again. He shut off the shower and rushed to the hallway with shampoo dripping down his back.

"Hi, Joey."

"Hi, Georgie. How's Mokuba?"

"He's still upset and annoyed at Seto. I don't know what to do about it really. Seto's never even mentioned Tsume to me and all I can get from Mokuba is that Tsume persuaded Seto into doing something. What that something is I have no idea and I really don't want to ask him."

"Did you say Tsume persuaded Seto into doing something?"

"Yes, do you know something?"

"Not much, but I'm pretty certain that the note I found yesterday is from Tsume to Seto and that it's a love note."

"Look, Joey, there is no way that someone persuaded Seto into sleeping with them when he was only twelve."

"What makes you dismiss it so quickly? Paedophilia isn't unheard of, Georgie."

"It may not be unheard of but this guy is only three years older than Seto, so he was only fifteen when Seto left the orphanage, and I seriously doubt that he could have got away with that without one of the staff at the orphanage finding out. Even so I suppose them having some form of relationship might be what Mokuba is talking about."

"You admit that I might be right."

"No, I'm admitting that Tsume and Seto may have dated, you know the typical preteen relationships when they think kissing on the cheek results in getting married. That would make the something Mokuba blames Tsume for is making Seto gay, which I think he's still coming to terms with. Poor kid, the brother that he idolises has a secret life where he has relationships with other guys. I'd hate to be in his position right now."

"I've never really thought what it'd be like for my family when I told them I liked guys."

"You've told them all then?"

"Well, no. Serenity worked it out on her own, I haven't said anything to mum and …"

"Your dad found out when you told him you liked Seto. That I already know from when I spoke to him on the phone."

"You did what?" Joey asked, beginning to realise how his dad must have known about his work experience placement.

"I rang you on Thursday night to ask how you were and your dad answered the phone so I ended up chatting to him. He asked if I knew Seto and we ended up discussing how you like him. That was when I asked him to tell you to ask him out, hoping that with two of us here telling you to go for it you might possibly pay some attention."

"Well, it doesn't matter now. I'm too late, Seto's got Tsume and he doesn't need a useless mutt like me."

"Just give it a try, Joey. What was it that you phoned about?" Georgie asked to try and change the subject.

"I was going to ask if you knew what sort of movies Seto likes as he said he had a lot of paperwork to do so I could watch a film in his office if he can't find anything for me to do tomorrow."

"I'm not really sure. I've watched some horror movies with him and a couple of romantic comedies. Other than that I'm pretty clueless, I can go and ask Mokuba if you want."

"Thanks."

"Ok, I'll be right back." Joey shivered in his hallway as he waited for her to return, he was glad that he'd had the sense to grab a towel to wrap round his waist before he left the bathroom.

"Mokuba says Seto likes 'thinky films' which I told him wasn't an answer so he said that Seto mostly watches romantic comedies and psychological thrillers."

"I haven't got any DVDs that fit that description, do you think he'll like the ring?"

"Japanese or American version?"

"There's an American version?"

"Yes and it's not a patch on the original Japanese one."

"Remind me never to watch it then. How about die hard?"

"Possibly, I don't have any idea what he thinks of action films. Just take a few with you tomorrow and ask him which one he wants to watch."

"That sounds like the best idea. Thanks Georgie."

"Glad to be of help. Bye, Joey."

"Bye, Georgie."

Joey put the phone back and went back to the bathroom to wash out the shampoo. As he watched the water run away down the plughole he noticed the colour of it. The water was bright blue. Panicking Joey switched off the shower and rushed to look in the mirror, hoping that it wasn't as bad as he feared. Unfortunately his reflection stared back with bright blue hair.

"How on earth did I get the dye muddled up with my shampoo?" he asked his reflection as the blue water trickled down his face.

--

Seto held the pen poised to sign the paper as he glanced over the words printed on the page. It was the usual contract nonsense from Pegasus to do with the new duelling systems, and Seto was half ready to agree to all the terms just to stop the rather dull negotiations in which he was constantly called Kaiba-boy. Sighing he pulled a small black book out of the second draw in his desk and jotted down a memo to arrange another meeting with Pegasus to negotiate over the contract again.

Placing the pen back onto the desk he stretched and glanced at the clock. It was getting late and he couldn't put off facing Mokuba much longer anyway. Yawning, he pushed himself up from his seat and grabbed his briefcase. The majority of his employees would have left by now, only those who wanted to put in overtime came in on Sunday's anyway, so the offices were deserted as Seto walked out into the hallway. Glancing from side to side as he paused at the top of the stairs he decided that the coast was clear. Smiling slightly he decided to risk it and jumped up to sit on the stair rail. This was one of the guilty little pleasures he allowed himself when no employees were around to catch him, sliding down the banisters was something he'd never admit to doing. At the bottom of the flight of stairs he stumbled, trying to regain his balance in the high heeled shoes, before entering the lift and pressing the button for the ground floor.

Leaning against the side of the lift, feeling at ease now that he was leaving the office; even though his slide down the banister would have been caught on the security tapes the security team who would see it knew better than to say anything about it. Adjusting his coat so that he would look presentable as he walked through the lobby, Seto felt slightly apprehensive about the awkward silence him and Mokuba were bound to have between them over diner tonight. He half hoped that his little brother had gone round a friend's house and wouldn't be back home until later on, but he hadn't been brought up to avoid problems. 'Problems only get solved if you face them. If you think you could ever run my company that's something you'll have to learn, Seto.' They may have been Gozaburo's words but they still made sense to Seto.

'Maybe Kay had the right idea today, about me being useless because I haven't faced the mutt,' Seto thought, remembering the interruption he'd had this morning. 'I'll think about it next week, right now I'm going to have to sort things out with Mokuba.'

--

"Why can't you two just sort this out?" Georgie all but yelled at the two stubborn brothers.

Both Kaiba's remained silent, sat at opposite ends of the sofa in the main living room. Georgie was standing in front of them, looking ready to tear her hair out in frustration.

"Do what you want, I don't care anymore. I'm tired, I want to go home and not think about other people's problems for just one night."

"I'll give you a lift," Seto said quickly as he stood up to go and fetch his keys.

"Thank you, but I think I'll walk. Just try and sort out your problems. I expect to get home tomorrow and find a note saying 'thank you for forcing us to make friends again, Georgie' with a present from the both of you. I'll show myself out." Georgie turned around and walked out the room, glad to be away from the two of them.

The room remained silent for a few minutes before Mokuba sighed and turned to look at his brother.

"Do you want to pick up the box of chocolates before you drop me off at school tomorrow?"

Seto smiled back at his little brother, neither of them could remain mad at the other for long.

--

Heva: I think my favourite bit in the entire story that I've written so far has to be Kay telling Seto that she doesn't like how his office is decorated.

Coel: That bit is good but I like the bit with Kay and Sara in the lift.

Heva: This is my favourite chapter that I've written so far so please review and I hoped you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm not sure when I'll be able to upload the next chapter but look out for it as I'll try not to be too long.

Date: 07/09/08


	6. Monday 1st day of work experience

Monday – first day of the work experience

--

Heva – I meant to upload this on Wednesday and then again on Thursday but life conspired against me so here it is on Friday.

Coel – I think it was you not being very organised that prevented you from uploading it actually.

Heva – Possibly. Anyway enjoy the chapter and I really don't own yugioh or Seto and probably never will, especially as my cousin has told me that she won't give me Seto for my birthday.

--

--

Monday – first day of the work experience

--

Joey awoke feeling exhausted and looked across at his bedside table to try and see what time it was. Remembering his alarm clock was still in pieces on the floor he pushed himself out of bed and walked to the kitchen to look at the clock in there.

"Seto's going to kill me!" he yelled and ran back to grab the clothes he'd picked out last night. Rushing into the bathroom and hurrying to make himself look respectable took less than ten minutes, but he was still running around the flat trying to find everything else he needed for today.

As he shut the door behind himself the clock in the kitchen showed the time was 08:13, meaning that there was no chance Joey would make it to Kaiba Corp for 08:30.

"Great. Moneybags is never going to let me forget it if I'm late on the first day," Joey complained as he ran down the stairs in the apartment complex.

"Slow down, Joey. What's the rush?" asked the woman Joey passed on the stairs. She grabbed the back of his shirt to try and calm him down before he fell face first down to the next floor in the complex.

"I'm going to be late and that jerk will never let me live it down, Riza."

"Do you want a lift? I'm about to go to work now anyway," Riza said with a sigh. She was used to giving Joey lifts to his friend's houses at the weekend and had been the person Joey used to stay with when his dad was still drinking, so she felt a certain amount of responsibility for him now.

"A lift would be amazing. Thank you so much," Joey told her as he hugged her tightly.

"Calm down, or I'll take the offer back. The bike's downstairs and I'll meet you there in a moment." Joey began running down the steps, two at a time, before she finished speaking.

"I'll never understand that kid," she muttered as she locked the door and followed him down the stairs.

--

Seto tapped his pen on the desk as he reread Pegasus's contract. In the light of the morning, before he had to occupy a pup, he'd decided to make a list of all the parts of the proposed contract he needed to discuss with the owner of Duelist Kingdom.

Glancing at the clock on his laptop screen he saw that it was just after half past eight in the morning. Joey was meant to turn up at nine but Seto doubted the mutt would make it in on time. There was always the possibility that Joey hadn't actually read the sheet about times properly and would turn up at a completely different time, but that seemed unlikely now. The phone on his desk rang and Seto picked up the receiver.

"Mr Kaiba?"

"Yes?"

"Mr Wheeler just turned up. Would you like me to show him to your office?"

"Of course." Seto grinned to himself as he put the phone down, so Joey hadn't read it properly. Oh well that was the mutt's problem, not his.

--

Joey leant back in the comfortable chairs in the lobby, sighing from exhaustion. He'd run from the entrance, where Riza had dropped him off, up to the desk and practically fallen on the poor girl behind it from exhaustion. Why did Seto decide to make the entrance to the lobby so far from the main road?

"Mr Kaiba said I should show you to his office. If you could just follow me, Mr Wheeler."

"I'm sure moneybags can wait five minutes while I get my breath back," Joey muttered as he let his eyes close.

Sara, unsure what she should do, turned to look at the receptionist, hoping to get some kind of suggestion. The receptionist was trying to hide her laughter, and just shrugged, unsure what to make of the situation. Sara glanced back at Joey as she heard the receptionist answer one of the phones on the desk.

"Mr Kaiba says that he's coming downstairs anyway because he needs to have a quick word with a couple of employees so the mutt can stay where he is for now."

"That sounds like something Kaiba would say," Joey said as he continued to relax in the chair.

--

Seto wondered what he should expect from Joey today; the hyperactive mutt that couldn't sit still, or the more subdued and emotional looking Joey that he'd seen recently. If it was the second, Seto wasn't sure he'd be able to keep up his appearance of indifference for too long. A miserable Joey was so out of character for the blond that it actually made Seto feel nervous and he always had the urge to hug the mutt in an effort to try and cheer him up. Seto had come close to doing so on Saturday, intrigued to find out what the pup's reaction would be.

The lift doors opened onto the lobby and Seto spotted Joey reclining in one of the chairs by the reception desk. Sara looked like she was panicking a little, trying to work out what she should do about the mutt, which almost brought a smile to Seto's face. He'd been impressed with Sara's work and ingenuity since he first interviewed her, so seeing her unsure was such a rare opportunity that Seto wanted to remember it.

"Don't tell me the mutt needs a nap already," he commented as he walked over to the seats.

"Well you see, normal humans need this thing called sleep, you may have heard of it."

"I believe I have, unfortunately it's not something I plan on letting you do in the lobby." Joey groaned and made a big show of stretching and yawning in an attempt to irritate Seto, it was wasted effort as Seto had turned to talk to his secretary, ignoring Joey. "Can you arrange a meeting with Pegasus to discuss the contract?"

"Of course, what days would be appropriate?"

Seto glanced back at Joey, who was continuing his display of stretching, and immediately tried to block the images from his mind. The last thing he needed right now was to be distracted by the blond when he was in the middle of the lobby talking to his secretary. Sara hid the smile as she spotted the slight change in Seto's posture, Kay was definitely right in her suspicions, at least about Seto being attracted to Joey.

"Thursday or Friday, if the mutt promises to behave himself he might as well sit in on a meeting."

"I'll get it arranged and send an email to you with the full details as soon as I can."

"Good. Are you ready to move yet, pup?" Seto asked as he turned back to face Joey.

"Yeah, but don't expect me to take the stairs up to your office."

--

"I'm not changing in your office," Joey complained as he held the pair of trousers and a jacket he'd chosen from the selection Seto had shown him.

"You can change in the hallway if you want," Seto told him with a grin. Tormenting Joey was just too much fun to not do it, and if Joey gave up he'd get a show as well.

"You're a pervert, Kaiba."

"Not as much as you are, mutt. I'm not going to watch you, I'm doing paperwork."

"Where's the nearest bathroom?"

"Down the hall, third door on the left."

"Fine, see you in a few minutes," Joey told him as he left the office. Seto sighed, he'd have been surprised if Joey had agreed but he could still hope. It had been a relief to see Joey back to normal this morning in the lobby, but having such a distraction in his office was proving to be unhelpful when he was trying to catch up on paperwork.

--

Joey had decided already that he was going to get lost at least once this week. Everything looked the same, right down to the same colour carpet on the floor. The fact that he wasn't paying much attention to where they were didn't really help as he was finding Seto's voice quite soothing at the moment. A headache had started whilst waiting for Seto to sort out his paperwork this morning. After they started the tour Joey had complained about the clicking of Seto's shoes on the metal floor of the lift so the CEO had actually suggested they take the stairs. The slight smile that he'd noticed tugging at the corners of Seto's mouth when he'd commented on the noise suggested that Seto was fully aware that the clicking was irritating. As they walked along another identical corridor, Joey glanced down at Seto's shoes to see he was wearing a pair of high heeled boots.

'So that's why he's so tall,' he thought with a grin. 'I expect it wouldn't take much to cause him to loose balance in those boots, say me give him a gentle push into a wall?'

"Are you listening, pup, or are you daydreaming?"

"If I said I was listening would you believe me, Kaiba?" Joey's question wasn't rewarded with a response. "Fine, moneybags, what did you say?"

"I said that this is the office of Tau, the man who I'll leave you with tomorrow. He's in charge of the computer graphics department. I doubt he's turned up yet as he usually comes in Monday afternoons and makes up the hours through the rest of the week." Seto knocked on the office door and they waited to see if anyone would answer.

"I think he's still at home, Kaiba," Joey muttered as no sign of life was gained from the other side of the door.

"Probably, he's never any good with mornings. If I see him later on I'll introduce you."

"Kaiba?"

"Yes, pup?"

"Do you let all your employees take mornings off?" Joey was understandably confused by the absence of one of the heads of a department. Was Seto showing understanding of his workers needs? Putting their comfort above his company's profits? That didn't sound like the Seto Joey thought he knew.

"Not unless they talk it over with me, or their department head, and agree a different set of working hours. The working hours are fairly flexible though."

"You know what I think?"

"I never know what you think, Wheeler," Seto replied with a smirk. Joey assumed that he'd been insulted somehow but couldn't spot the offence so continued with what he was going to say.

"You're actually quite a nice guy to work for." Joey wished he hadn't opened his mouth as he saw Seto's immediate reaction. The look of shock didn't suit Seto at all.

"Thank you, Joey. I'll show you where the security team is and introduce you to some of them." Seto turned and began walking back towards the lift or the stairs, Joey had no real idea where either were so couldn't make a guess.

'He said thank you and called me Joey. I'm glad I complimented him now. He says my name so … I'm not sure how to describe it really, but I want to hear him say it again. I want to hear it come from those lips in a moan as I'

"Mutt, are you going to stand there all day?"

--

Seto had concluded that Joey was still unwell, and his constant daydreaming was the result of this. He'd had to stop at least seven more times to hurry up the blond when he was showing him around the building. There was no way Joey had remembered any of it, but Seto was sure Joey would remember this. Trust the pup's love of food to make sure he remembered where the canteen was.

They had spent almost the entire morning walking around and Joey had complained he wanted food towards the end of it. Seto had nearly smiled at Joey's whining, nearly. He had consented to going to the canteen earlier than usual, not that he would let Joey know he'd done it for any other reason than to shut him up.

The time he'd spent with Joey this morning was surprisingly pleasant. He'd found out that Joey didn't get to see his sister very often as his parents were divorced and lived in different towns. Seto hadn't pressed the matter, families weren't something he was happy discussing with anyone, and if Joey's parents weren't together he was pretty certain they wouldn't be something the blond was comfortable with either.

He'd also found out that Joey had no idea what he wanted to do after leaving school. One thing he was sure about was that he wouldn't be able to afford university. Apparently Joey wasn't happy talking about his future either as he'd got a bit defensive and gone back to calling Seto 'moneybags'.

They'd now reached quite a comfortable conversation about school friends, comfortable for the mutt anyway.

"So how did you and Georgie end up as friends?" Joey asked as they stood in the lift.

"Nothing interesting. She was sat next to me in further maths so that I could translate for her if she needed me to. We ended up talking and she asked if I could translate a few of her assignments into English that afternoon. She ended up saying she would come and sit in the office with me and do her work so that she could ask for help if she needed it. We never got that far as I had to pick up Mokuba who immediately volunteered to help, and since then she's looked after Mokuba almost every weeknight."

"So you're no more than friends then?" Joey teased, remembering the rumour that he'd found out about on Saturday.

"Do you honestly think we are dating, Joey?"

"Not in the slightest. Georgie fancies that other girl you were with on Saturday and," Joey put on a rather bad impression of Kay's voice, "'It's complete rubbish, anyone who actually knows you two knows that there's no chance you two would ever get together. I mean for a start Seto's gay.'"

"Isn't Kay wonderful?" Seto said sarcastically.

"Is that her name?"

"Her real name's Klaudia and she has an obsession with designer clothes. I really don't know what Georgie sees in her, I've never met anyone more irritating or nosy."

"Nosy? What did she find out about you then?" Joey said, grinning as he hoped Seto would share.

"Nothing much," Seto said quickly, realising that he shouldn't have started talking about Kay after the scene she made yesterday in front of quite a few employees. The lift opened and Seto led the way to the canteen.

"How did you become friends with Yuugi and the others then?" Seto asked, hoping to keep the conversation away from Georgie and Kay.

"Well, me and Tristan met in primary school and I guess we just got used to each other. Yuugi stood up for me and Tristan when we got accused of bullying him by one of the idiots in the upper years. Tea and Yuugi were already friends from primary school and of course Miho and Tea were friends."

"What happened to Miho? I remember her hanging around with you when I managed to get to school."

"Her parents moved away and we lost contact."

"Oh. What do you want to eat?" Seto asked as they finally entered the canteen.

It took about fifteen minutes before they were sat at one of the tables ready to eat, Joey had been unable to make up his mind and Seto had eventually forced him to choose with the threat of going hungry if he didn't hurry up. Joey began eating quickly causing Seto to groan at his lack of table manners.

"Did you ever get taught to eat politely, pup?"

"Nope. I grew up in a house with people who'd knick food off your plate if you didn't eat it before they had the chance."

"It shows."

"I don't comment on your eating, moneybags, so don't comment on mine," Joey complained as he glanced across the table. Seto was eating slowly, not seeming very hungry. "In fact I don't think I've ever seen you eat before."

"You probably haven't, I don't eat much at the school canteen."

"Sounds a wise choice, the stuff they serve there isn't particularly edible. I usually have a packed lunch."

"You've come down to the canteen out of your own free will," said a surprised and heavily accented voice from Joey's left. He turned to look at the man walking towards them. Joey was expecting to see a middle aged man in a suit, the stereotypical businessman. What he actually saw was a young man, early twenties probably, with brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and a fairly smart jacket and trousers.

"Try and guess what I got shown by some of the security team this morning when I turned up," the man continued as he approached the table.

"I think I already know. Let me introduce you to Joey Wheeler, the work experience student you're looking after tomorrow. Joey this is Tau, who will be on best behaviour tomorrow." Joey noticed the slight edge to Seto's voice as he said the last sentence, it clearly meant 'or else'.

"Nice to meet you, Joey," Tau said as he sat down at the table with them. "So Seto are you going to take the advice you got given yesterday?"

"Are the security team showing everyone?" Seto asked, refusing to answer Tau's question.

"More or less. What I want to know is how come I wasn't told about this until this morning?"

"It only happened yesterday."

"You know what I mean, Seto."

"It's a matter that doesn't concern you," Seto said in a way that made it obvious further questions would be ignored.

"Fine. She's right about the plants and the décor in this place though. I haven't seen your new boots yet so I don't know about that." Tau was grinning as Seto just groaned in annoyance at how the subject hadn't been dropped like he hoped it would have been.

"If you want to get the place redecorated, Tau, make some plans and get some estimates. As for plastic plants they are more practical than real ones in an office as they don't wilt and drop leaves all over the floor, and they don't need watering."

"Can you ask Kay to come and help me plan for redecorating then?"

"She is not allowed back in this building for any reason," Seto said warningly.

"What did Kay do yesterday?" Joey asked, he was feeling a bit lost in the conversation so far but he knew how Kay had acted on Saturday, especially announcing that Seto was gay, so it was probably something fairly similar.

"She was trying to persuade him what he should do about his love life, and then explaining how he could never do anything right because he's a guy. It's just great the way that you sit there through the whole thing looking so shocked." Tau was laughing as he spoke.

"Have you finished eating, Joey?" Seto asked.

"Yes."

"That's good. I think I've been embarrassed enough for one day."

--

"Kaiba?"

"Yes, pup?"

"Why was Kay telling you what to do about your love life?"

"She has got an idea in her head that makes her think that she's amazing at advising people about their love life and decided to explain to me yesterday why I will never be able to date anyone without her help because I'm a guy."

"That sounds like Kay," Joey admitted. They were standing by the doors to the lift having left Tau in the canteen and Joey was finding himself distracted by the way Seto was standing. He looked rather relaxed; his hands by his sides, a slight slouching of his shoulders, the gentle tapping of a foot to an unheard rhythm. Joey guessed that Seto was probably thinking of a song he wanted to listen to at the moment. The relaxed Seto was a definite improvement on the one he usually met at school or in tournaments; less argumentative, slower to criticise others, able to take a joke and actually able to make jokes as well. This Seto was attractive in more ways than just physically. He showed genuine interest in just chatting with people and asked questions about Joey's life without making any obvious moves to make fun of him. The dog names hadn't disappeared, but 'mutt' had only been used this morning, gradually being replaced by 'pup'.

The lift doors opened and a few people walked out, all giving Seto either a 'hello, Mr Kaiba', a slight nod of their head in respect of his authority or a smile and 'hello, Seto'. It seemed that most of the employees knew Seto personally which impressed Joey quite a lot.

'He's really quite a friendly person when he wants to be,' he thought, 'I guess he needs to be to know what's going on in the company.'

"I've got a lot of paperwork to do this afternoon so do you mind watching a film?" Seto asked as they entered the lift. They were the only ones in the lift which made Joey feel able to relax as well. He'd felt uncomfortable with Seto's employees around, especially Tau, the guy was just a bit too happy.

"That's fine. I brought a few with me. Do you like action films?"

"Not particularly. Have a look through the DVDs Mokuba's left in my office. You might find some that you like." Seto leaned back on the wall of the lift, closing his eyes. Joey assumed that he was either thinking about the paperwork he needed to get done or the films that were in his office. Seto looked so peaceful and content … and ever so tempting. Joey wanted to reach out and run his hands over the slim figure in front of him. The way that the harsh electric lights illuminated that nearly angelic face could almost be called beautiful, and if Seto's eyes opened Joey knew that they would glint the colour of sapphires completing a look that should be captured on canvas for the rest of the world to marvel at. Joey continued to stare, unaware of his feet moving him closer to Seto across the lift.

--

Seto shut his eyes to try and clear his thoughts. They were currently in the gutter, thinking about how much he wanted to run his hands over Joey's sculpted chest and feel the muscles jumping under his fingertips as he ran them lower and lower, below Joey's belt to curl around …

Managing to shake those thoughts from his mind before a serious problem could develop, Seto allowed his mind to focus on the smile Joey had when he talked about things that really interested him. The way his eyes lit up with excitement, his whole face brightening with his emotions. Seto had always liked that about the blond, but he'd never been able to feel what it was like to be the cause of it before. The feeling of being the reason that Joey was happy was so exhilarating and intoxicating, it caused Seto's walls to crumble and his own emotions show. When his emotions had been visible before he'd always felt weak and exposed, but with Joey around he felt protected somehow.

A memory of when Joey had been talking about his interests at school came forward in Seto's mind. He'd been surprised at Joey's knowledge of the subjects he was taking and that he was actually interested in studying electronics most of all. When Seto had said that he was sure the CG team would show him the electronics to do with the holographic technology if he asked, the look on Joey's face had been beautiful and Seto was sure he'd smiled back.

Seto tensed as he felt Joey approach him. He wondered why Joey was walking so slowly and wasn't sure what his intentions were. Feeling Joey's breath ghosting across his cheek Seto felt his breath catch in his throat. Keeping his eyes shut he tilted his head slightly as he felt Joey's breath across his lips. As their lips were about to meet the lift halted and Seto's eyes flew open to see Joey jump back as if he'd been burned.

Joey's cheeks burned up with a blush of shame. Seto felt a jab of sorrow at the look on Joey's face. He felt as if their roles had reversed, with Joey so quiet and himself needing to say something to break the awkward silence, but what to say? Eventually he settled for a simple phrase.

"Nothing happened."

--

Tsume entered the lobby and looked around for the reception desk. He walked over and smiled politely to the lady behind the counter.

"Hello, sir, how can I help you?"

"I'm here to pick up SKF. Can you direct me to his office?"

"You're Tsume?" she asked glancing at the post it note she'd written the memo down on this morning.

"Ah he's already told you to expect me," Tsume said with a grin. "He didn't tell me to expect such a radiant beauty on the reception desk though."

"Thank you," the receptionist replied, blushing slightly. "If you'll just wait a moment I'll get Mr Kaiba's secretary to come and fetch you."

Tsume glanced around the lobby as the receptionist picked up the phone and rang Sara. It was only a few minutes before the lift doors opened and Sara strode over to the couple who were exchanging flirty comments.

"Are you Tsume?" Sara asked, she wasn't in the mood for people wasting time after having to put up with Pegasus's staff being typically unhelpful for the majority of the morning.

"Yes, and this other example of feminine charm would be?"

"I'm Mr Kaiba's secretary, could you follow me please?"

"Duty calls. Don't forget to call me so that I can take you out to dinner sometime," Tsume said as he began to follow Sara to the lifts.

Sara inwardly groaned as she stepped into the lift. She wanted to yell at this man, ask him why he was here and what business he had taking her boss out for dinner and hitting on the receptionist at the same time. There was no doubt in her mind that he was one of 'those' visitors. One of the ones you don't question or try to get to know. She'd come close to crossing that line with Kay, thankfully Kay had just been there as a concerned friend trying to persuade Seto to get his act together and ask Joey out. The video of what had transpired in the office was currently being sent around the building and had managed to get onto Kaiba Corp's intranet now. No one had been that surprised when Seto had added a warning onto the page the video was on that promised he'd deal with anyone who took it outside the company. Sara didn't know of any employees who'd be stupid enough to let the video into the wider population as any loss for the company would result in everyone loosing out. Seto certainly knew how to run a successful company; link the employees pay to the company's success giving them more enthusiasm to see the company do well, allow flexible working hours and give employees the option to work from home if it is practical for them to do so, encourage everyone to get to know each other so that any problems can be discussed openly and solved quickly.

The lift doors opened and Sara stepped out, followed by the visitor.

"It's just down the hall, his name is on the door," Sara said before turning round and re-entering the lift.

"Thanks," Tsume muttered as he began walking towards where she'd indicated.

Sara watched him walk off. 'I hope Mr Kaiba knows what he's doing, he's ruining any chance he'll ever have with Joey.' However it wasn't her place to wonder why or ask questions so she should just go back to her work and hope that this catastrophe didn't affect the company's profit.

--

Joey glanced over at Seto again. After they'd watched Pirates of the Caribbean for half an hour the tension between them after the lift incident seemed to have eased enough for a conversation to start up. Admittedly it was nowhere near as comfortable as it had been earlier but Joey had still managed to discover Seto liked Johnny Depp. It was highly amusing to the blond that every time Captain Jack Sparrow was on screen the young CEO's head would lift a little from his paperwork so that he could glance at the television screen.

The conversation hadn't started with an outright accusation but it wasn't that far off.

"Have you seen this film before?" Joey asked in the most casual voice he could muster, still feeling uneasy after being in the lift.

"Mokuba made me watch it," Seto replied, glancing up at Joey. "I'm not that impressed by it."

"At least the actors in it are good, you've got to give that some credit," Joey said, trying to cover the grin that was making its way onto his face as he got ready to confront Seto with his suspicion.

"I suppose they aren't that bad," Seto agreed, lifting a few papers off his desk, appearing to read them easier at that angle, but in reality attempting to hide the slight blush that had crept onto his cheeks as he realised Joey had caught him.

"The guy who's playing Jack Sparrow is really very talented. I recognise the actor but I can't remember his name, I'm pretty certain you know it though," Joey had given up hiding his smile as he reached the end of his sentence. Seto lowered the paper slowly so that he could send Joey a half hearted glare. "It's Johnny Depp, Kaiba. I already know you're into guys and according to my sister he is one of the cutest actors around so you don't need to be ashamed of fancying the guy."

"I admire his talent as an actor, nothing more."

"Sure you do," Joey replied with a grin and settled down to watch the rest of the film, sneaking glances at Seto each time Johnny Depp was back on screen. Unfortunately Seto was refusing to even glance at the screen now so Joey was unable to catch him out.

As the film finally ended Joey stood up from where he'd been on the sofa and stretched. He looked over at Seto again and noticed the ever so slight blush on the other's cheeks as he quickly looked back to his paperwork. Joey smirked to himself realising that he'd just caught Seto staring again, but this time not at the film.

"There are a few DVDs in the cupboard under the television," Seto commented as Joey walked over to change the film. Opening the cupboard Joey immediately noticed the way that the films were split into two sections; the ordered section full of what Joey now referred to as 'thinky films' was obviously Seto's, and the haphazard pile of mild horrors and action films must be Mokuba's.

"A Beautiful Mind," Joey muttered, reading the title of the first DVD in Seto's section.

"I doubt that would interest you, pup."

"It might do," Joey whined pulling the DVD out of the cupboard to look at the cover.

"It's about a highly intelligent college professor who becomes mentally ill," Seto replied. Joey replaced it on the shelf, careful to put it in a different place in the order. He glanced through the other few DVDs before spotting one that surprised him. Pulling it out he read the back cover before deciding to ask why Seto would want to watch it.

"The Exorcism of Emily Rose? I didn't think you believed in that sort of thing, Kaiba?"

"I don't believe in past lives or that Yuugi ever shared his body with a five thousand year old pharaoh, but that doesn't mean I don't believe in the paranormal, pup. Besides it is a very interesting film but I doubt you would have the patience to watch it."

"Fine," Joey muttered, feeling irritated that Seto was criticising his dislike of psychological films. When Seto had said he wouldn't have the patience it had felt more like he meant to say that Joey didn't have the intelligence, and what hurt the most about it was that Joey felt out of his depth just by looking at the DVDs. Rain Man and Snow Cake sounded like the kind of films Joey made fun of in the past, saying that anyone who watched them would probably die from boredom, but it seemed fitting, in a way, that Seto liked these films. They were above the average person's understanding, just like Seto was above the average person's reach.

"Can't you find anything? I would have thought that Mokuba had left some films here that you might like," Seto asked, unaware he'd accidently insulted Joey.

"Here's something I want to watch. Me and Tristan saw it at the cinema but it didn't make that much sense at the time. I think it was because we were throwing popcorn at each other and not really watching the film." Joey stood up from where he'd been sat on the floor to look through the cupboard. He held out the DVD to show Seto what he'd picked. A groan of annoyance was the only reply he got before he put the DVD into the player.

As the menu for Secret Window came up on screen with the language options available Joey decided he ought to make a comment.

"Oh and look, I'd forgotten that this film has your favourite actor in it as well, Kaiba." Joey laughed as he received a full glare from the blue eyed man sat at the desk.

The film was watched in silence, Seto eventually moving from behind his desk to sit next to Joey on the sofa as he finished all the urgent paperwork. The rest could be left until tomorrow when he didn't have a distraction in his office. Joey remained sat at one end of the couch and Seto at the other, neither wanting to make the first move towards the other. The end of the film came and Seto moved to put the DVD away while Joey began searching for his bag of belongings. It was uncomfortable in the room and Joey was pleased when he realised that he could leave.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Kaiba," Joey said as he was about to turn to leave.

"Are you able to find your way out?"

"I'm sure I'll manage. Thanks for everything. Bye." Joey hurried out of the office and breathed a sigh of relief. He was free until tomorrow. As he turned the corner to walk to the lift he walked past a familiar man. The man was tall with his white hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. He was wearing a black denim jacket with silver studs in the collar over a black t-shirt and black denim trousers. Joey was fairly certain that the guy didn't work for Seto as he looked too casually dressed, everyone he'd seen so far had been wearing suits or the security uniform. As the man walked past him Joey glanced over his shoulder and realised where he remembered him from.

--

Tsume knocked on the door and waited for an answer. He'd noticed the kid which walked past him and was well aware that he was being watched from round the corner. Well the kid could stay there for the rest of the evening for all he cared, SKF was taking him out for dinner at a restaurant and he was going to enjoy catching up with his old friend.

"Come in," came the call from the other side of the door and Tsume pushed the door open.

"Hi, SKF. I'm not interrupting your work, am I?" Tsume asked as he strode over to the desk and sat on the corner of it.

"Not really, I've not been able to concentrate on it all day. I thought you weren't able to get off work for another hour?"

"I managed to persuade my boss to let me go early as long as I do an extra shift later this week."

"Sounds reasonable. The restaurant is booked for seven thirty so we can either wait here or go somewhere."

"How about a walk, or are you too much of a successful businessman to be seen out with the common folk?"

"If you're planning on making me feel bad because I've managed to turn my life around you're wasting your time, Tsume." Seto stood up from behind his desk and pulled on his coat that had been on the back of his chair.

"I like that coat, it matches your eyes," Tsume said quietly as he gave Seto a quick look over, much like he'd given the receptionist earlier.

"You're still a charmer. I was wondering when you were going to start doing all that again."

"It's called flattery, SKF, and it works very well on a lot of people, including you. Don't try and deny it or I'll just start bringing up examples."

"Less than five minutes and we're already onto blackmail. Where do you suggest we walk?"

--

Joey wanted to move, he really did, but he was transfixed by what he was witnessing. He could hear Seto and Tsume talking, as he watched through the key hole in the office door, and was able to convince himself it was just friendly chatter, no ulterior motives, until Tsume commented on the coat. Joey had seen that coat on Saturday and had thought how wonderfully it accented Seto's features. Blue suited him, and the coat drew attention to his eyes. The way that Joey saw Tsume so blatantly check Seto out after that was enough to make him growl slightly and clench his fists. This man seemed to think he could just walk into Seto's office and treat him in this way. Seto's reply implied this wasn't the first time this had happened and Joey felt his throat tighten.

Finally pulling himself away from the scene as the two agreed to go to the park, Joey hurried towards the lift. He hit the button and was relieved when the lift doors opened almost instantly. Stepping in he leant against the wall and let out the breath he hadn't realised he was holding. That's why Seto had said that nothing happened between them earlier; he already had someone, this Tsume.

Joey let his head drop as he felt a tear slide down his cheek. How could he let things get so tangled up? He'd found out about Tsume and Seto on Saturday, and still let himself hope that something could happen.

'How could I be so stupid?' Joey asked himself as the lift doors opened again to let in two women. They were chatting about something and ignored Joey. He managed to wipe the tears from his face and listened to what they were saying.

"Well I don't really know what to think about that, Katara."

"I swear it's the truth," the one called Katara insisted to her friend. "I saw him hitting on her, he even gave her his number so he can't be one of those visitors."

"You were certain that other guy last year wasn't one of those visitors either and it turned out he was."

"He never really spoke to anyone, but Tsume's different. If anything he's like that girl who turned up yesterday."

"I'm still not convinced."

"Suit yourself," Katara muttered as the lift stopped at the ground floor and all three of them stepped out.

"I know how to settle this," Katara's friend announced, grabbing Katara's wrist and dragging her towards the reception desk. "Tanya, what connection does Tsume have with Mr Kaiba as far as you know?"

"They're old friends; Mr Kaiba's taking him out for dinner tonight. Sara made the booking arrangements for them yesterday. Apparently, according to Roland that is, they were at the orphanage together and Tsume used to look after Mr Kaiba and Mokuba, which I think is sweet. Also they lost contact after Mr Kaiba and Mokuba were adopted and only met up again last week."

"See, they're old friends. Mr Kaiba was only twelve when he was adopted so there's no way they had anything other than a friendship," Katara insisted as Joey walked out the doors into the car park.

'If they were only friends why do they act so much closer?' he thought miserably. 'They can't just be friends.' A memory of Mokuba's words in the car 'You were eight, Seto!' pushed its way forward. Those words were about Tsume and something he had done with Seto. Tsume was three years older than him so had he talked Seto into some kind of relationship that Seto was still too young to understand at the time? Maybe Seto felt some weird form of dependence on Tsume because of it, which was why he was so interested in rebuilding the relationship again? The more he thought, the less sense it made to him.

--

Seto sat on the bench watching the ducks in the pond with a slight smile on his face as Tsume sat next to him laughing at what had just been said.

"I remember that. We had to carry the runt and Mokie back to the orphanage because they were too tired to walk."

"All four of us were soaked through by the time we got back because it rained," Seto replied with a grin. It was nice reminiscing with Tsume.

"Do you remember when we had the camp fire and I ended up telling all those ghost stories?" Tsume asked after a brief moment of comfortable silence.

"How could I forget it? That was the first time I'd ever been camping, or without Mokuba for more than a day since we were put in the orphanage."

"You were so scared; we ended up sharing a sleeping bag," Tsume added with a laugh.

"I wasn't used to all the noises," Seto said in his defence.

"Ok, I'll give you that, but I'll never forget the way you refused to sleep in your own sleeping bag because you were scared." They watched the ducks silently for a moment, each remembering other shared memories.

"Mokuba still hasn't forgiven you," Seto eventually said quietly.

"I didn't think he would have," Tsume replied calmly. "If anyone can hold a grudge against someone, it's Mokie. I deserve it though."

"You don't, we're both at fault. I knew it was wrong and still agreed."

"Logic persuaded you it was right, Seto," Tsume said firmly as he turned to face Seto. "I was the one telling you the logical argument knowing full well what the outcome would be."

"You're argument wasn't faulty, my priorities were. I put Mokuba and Toboe's comfort above the law."

"I shouldn't have persuaded you that stealing was right though Seto."

--

--

Heva: That chapter is the longest one yet. I'm not sure when I can update next but I'll try to make sure it's before the end of next week. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and feel like reviewing, and remember to say thank you to melodyz07 for continuing to be so amazingly helpful.

Date: 12/09/08


	7. Tuesday 2nd day of work experience

Tuesday – second day of work experience

* * *

Heva: here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, favourited and alerted this story.

Coel: special thanks to melodyz07 for continuing to put up with heva and the person who Georgie is based on for being so understanding about everything and even prompting heva to update regularly.

--

--

Tuesday – second day of work experience

--

Joey woke up early after failing to sleep for very long. He'd got home yesterday and felt too unhappy to eat anything, not that he had anything in the house to eat. After managing to get into his pyjamas between sobs he collapsed on his bed and cried. His emotions had been close to the surface since he'd started feeling unwell and he was pretty confident they would be until he felt better so these emotional outbursts were going to stick around for a while yet.

Joey pulled another tissue out of the packet next to his bed and wiped his eyes free of tears. He didn't feel able to face Kaiba this morning, not after yesterday.

'I nearly kissed him,' Joey thought. 'I nearly felt those beautiful lips against my own. That warm breath was so close I could feel it on my lips. His skin would have been so soft to touch against mine as I explored his mouth with my tongue.' A new wave of tears made their way down his cheeks as he thought about what he nearly did yesterday. Seto hadn't pulled away; in fact he'd turned his head so that Joey could kiss him more easily.

"Why did I stop?" Joey asked the room. "Why couldn't I just close that gap another few centimetres? If I'd done that he might not have spent the night with Tsume!" Joey was yelling at the ceiling as more tears appeared in his eyes.

--

Seto awoke at his usual six o clock and pulled himself out of bed. He got ready slowly and began cooking breakfast for himself and Mokuba. As an apology for leaving him at Georgie's house last night until after nine thirty, not that Mokuba had complained that he'd been able to stay up until a bit after ten o clock, Seto was cooking Mokuba's favourite, unhealthy fried breakfast. Fried eggs, bacon, fried bread with fried mushrooms and a fried tomato to try and masquerade as a balanced meal. It wasn't long before Mokuba appeared in the doorway, the smell of frying food probably alerting him to Seto's cooking.

"You cooked it!" he yelled as he ran over to Seto and threw his arms around his brother's waist in a thank you. Seto was expecting it and managed to not drop the frying pan or spatula.

"Of course I did, what are big brother's for?" Seto asked teasingly. "Why don't you set the table?"

Mokuba rushed around the kitchen pulling plates and a glass out of the cupboards. He poured himself some orange juice before finding knives and forks as Seto began tipping the contents of his frying pan onto the plates. They ate happily and Mokuba had polished off his plate rather quickly, reminding Seto of how Joey finished his food as fast as possible. He was finding himself reminded of the blond more and more recently. Last night Tsume had noticed Seto's far away stare at one point and asked him about it.

'"I was thinking about someone," Seto had replied.

"Anyone I know?" Tsume questioned.

"I doubt it. His name's Joey Wheeler."

"I always suspected you'd turn out queer," Tsume muttered, before smiling. "What's he like? I expect he's a big, strong, well-muscled chap, or are you more into the pretty ones?"

"He's not really either. He's just Joey. Blond hair that's always a mess no matter what he does, but it looked slightly blue today, I'm not sure why; the most beautiful brown eyes I've ever seen and he is well-muscled, yes." Seto took a sip of his drink and smiled at Tsume.

"He must have been the guy I walked past on the way into your office. That suit made him look very uncomfortable."

"I know, he's not used to looking smart."

"It showed, SKF, but he did look like a nice guy. I hope the two of you are very happy together."

"Thank you, that means a lot coming from you, Tsume."'

Mokuba put his plate in the sink and hurried over to Seto. He gave him a quick kiss on the cheek in thank you before hurrying away to get ready for school.

--

Joey walked into the lobby wishing he was anywhere but there. Being burnt alive probably would have been preferable to the horrible sense of betrayal Joey currently felt. He had leant towards him yesterday, and then gone with that older man. It wasn't really betrayal, Joey had no real claim on Seto, but that thought didn't stop it hurting.

The lift doors closed behind him and Joey looked at the corner Seto had been lent in yesterday.

On the second floor the lift stopped and a couple more people got in so Joey turned his attention to the floor instead.

"You're the work experience student, Joey Wheeler, aren't you?" one of the new occupants asked him.

"Yes."

"How have you found it so far?"

"Confusing, everywhere looks the same," Joey replied with a fake smile.

"It is a bit disorientating," the second person agreed. "I'm fairly new here as well, even after two weeks I'm still getting lost on the way to the coffee machine."

"I hope you find the experience useful."

"Thanks," Joey said as the two stepped out of the lift when it stopped again. It was barely anytime before the lift was opening again at his stop. He took a deep breath and walked the now familiar corridor to Seto's office.

--

The knock on the door was a welcome break for Seto, as he tried to understand the report he'd been given to read. It was meant to be an explanation of the results obtained about the new duel disk's circuits, but so far it had made no sense.

"Come in," Seto said without looking up from the papers.

"Hi," Joey said quietly as he stepped over the threshold. Seto looked up as he realised it was Joey.

"I can't have managed to irritate you too much then," Seto commented with a slight smile, not having realised Joey wasn't in a good mood yet.

"Well I'm with the CG team today, not you," Joey pointed out.

"I'll take you down to see Tau," Seto agreed, standing up from his desk. He didn't want to leave Joey with someone else when he was like this, but leaving him with Tau might help cheer him up a bit. Tau had always reminded Seto of Joey, with boundless energy and enthusiasm that seemed contagious. Hopefully Joey would cheer up if he spent the day with Tau.

The lift ride was in silence, Seto unwilling to say something for fear of making things worse and Joey wanting to get as far away from Seto as possible.

Seto knocked on Tau's office door and waited until he heard a "Come in." before turning to Joey.

"If you want to see me at any point for any reason just ask someone to ring me and I'll come and see you. I probably won't be in my office much as I've got to sort out a report with some people but if you get really bored you can go and watch some films in there if you want. Ok?" Seto hoped to get some kind of response other than the mumbled "ok" Joey gave him. It really wasn't like Joey to be like this and Seto was getting rather on edge with the strange behaviour. Joey was meant to be lively and bouncy, always complaining that Seto was the moody, loner who didn't know how to have fun.

--

Seto put his head in his hands as he sat at his desk. He'd decided to give this report one more read through before talking to the electrical team who wrote it. That had been the plan anyway. The problem with the plan was Joey.

Seto couldn't focus on the words on the paper in front of him, let alone read them, when the miserable face of the pup kept finding its way to the front of his mind. Every time he tried to force himself to dismiss Joey from his mind he came back, much like Joey did in real life. Seto put him down in duel after duel, but each time Joey reappeared and tried to beat him again. It seemed that even the Joey in his thoughts wanted to do the same thing, except this time without the duelling.

A sigh escaped his lips as he wondered if Kay was right about men being rubbish at relationships. He smiled slightly at the thought that women didn't seem much better, Georgie and Kay were a good example of that. Georgie wouldn't do anything about her own crush, but wouldn't think twice about meddling in Joey and Seto's relationship. Seto peered through his fingers at the screen of his laptop. He needed a distraction from the blond so he might as well. Seto clicked a few keys and brought up the intranet page that the video was on. Someone had thoughtfully added a comment option now and Seto couldn't help glancing through what his subordinates had put. The comments showed both the time when they were added and the name of the person who had added them. Seto glanced through the last few to have been left as the video was loading. One of the employees in the marketing department had asked if anyone knew who Kay was talking about and a couple of people had replied saying they had heard a few rumours that it was someone who went to school with Mr Kaiba. Seto was surprised when he read one comment saying that it was a guy in his physics class and they were both in denial, he then realised that Sara had left that comment and considered telling her that she shouldn't spread rumours about her boss, especially true rumours.

The video finished loading and Seto played it. He found the whole scene more entertaining when he wasn't actually faced with Kay leaning over his desk telling him why he was hopeless without her help. The first comments about the plants and the décor made him smile, they were so typically Kay that he felt happier that at least she was something he could always count on to not change. Maybe it was her unchanging personality that was what attracted Georgie? It would make sense in a way as Georgie was so used to everything changing for her all the time, being moved around with her dad's work, with less than a weeks notice in some cases; constantly having to make new friends, and adjust to new schools, with different languages and customs.

The video ended and Seto stood up from his desk, picking up the poor excuse for a report and left the office.

--

Sara replaced the phone on the desk after finishing talking with one of Pegasus's employees. The man had been a complete waste of her time as far as Sara was concerned, but in jobs like hers you had to deal with that kind of person sometimes. She clicked a few keys on her computer to bring up the email. Out of personal interest she decided to see what rumours were circulating on the intranet with what had become referred to as 'the Kay video'. Surprisingly Seto had added a comment about ten minutes ago.

'I never realised my love life was that interesting but I'm not going to confirm or deny any rumours, unless they get increasingly bizarre, so make of that what you want.'

Sara smiled to herself. Seto probably knew that if he began telling people that the rumours were false he would be called a liar, and if he confirmed them people would begin asking him more personal questions about Joey. She returned to the email and entered the relevant information for the meeting with Pegasus. She sent it to the necessary people and turned to begin her work on sorting through the paperwork to do with the new duel disks.

After a new prototype passed the first set of tests it seemed that suddenly, overnight in some cases it appeared, paperwork needing to be catalogued and filed correctly appeared in vast quantities. Fortunately there was a large group of people responsible for this task, but Sara had found herself in charge of a large section of it this time. It was the same in every office she worked in, the secretaries always ended up doing an unhealthy amount of filing. She needed to get as much of the filing finished by Friday as possible now that she knew she wouldn't be around.

'I wonder if Seto has asked Joey out, yet?' she thought as she began the monotonous task of listing the contents of each folder to be put into storage. 'I doubt he has. They looked happy together at lunch yesterday, and when they were walking around the offices both of them seemed to be so comfortable in each other's company. I hope Tsume didn't spoil it when he turned up. I've never seen Seto look as content as he did yesterday, and the way he reacted when Joey was yawning in the lobby yesterday morning was amusing.' Sara moved the folder she'd just finished detailing into the box by her desk.

'I wonder if Tanya phoned Tsume last night? He seemed a nice chap and it's time Tanya got over her last boyfriend. Maybe she can get Tsume to pick her up when Joey will be around to see him, that would put an end to any jealousy he has about Seto and Tsume.' Sara paused as she glanced over at her computer monitor when it beeped to say she had a new email. She lent over and clicked her mouse.

'Thanks for the message. Is it just us five going, or is Joey joining us? I thought he was around all week so I assume that he is. He seems a nice chap. I just wanted to ask, seeing as you seem to be the leading expert on all this at the moment, is he the one?

'Love and kisses.

'Tau.'

Sara grinned. 'Trust Tau to want to know about Seto's love life,' she thought.

'Yes to both questions about Joey,

'love you too,' she sent back before continuing with recording the folders.

--

Joey moved his hand through the hologram and felt a slight tingle of excitement. He'd never really thought much about how the holograms were produced before. They were just something that always came with duels. He'd always known that Seto had been the one to make the technology that produced the holograms, sound effects and more recently the online duelling systems that allowed people to either duel opponents across the world in their own home or a computer set at various levels of difficulty.

When you really thought about it, Seto had put a lot into the game he was so passionate about.

"Do you have a hologram for every single card?" he asked in amazement as Tabatha changed the hologram in front of him to the Dark Magician.

"Every card that was allowed into the duelling community," she said with a smile. "We never bothered including the illegal cards as there are enough cards to contend with anyway, without including those that will never be played."

"Can you adjust the holographic monsters to do anything you want?"

"You mean animate them? Of course, it would be a rather boring duel if they couldn't move," she said with a slight giggle. The Dark Magician stood next to Joey took a few steps away from him before spinning around with his staff raised to attack. "Do you want a go?" Tabatha asked as Joey watched the moving hologram.

"How do you do it?" he asked.

"Come over here and I'll show you."

--

The holographic dragons flew around the room once before landing back on the ground together. A cheer came from the crowd that had now assembled to watch Joey, with the help of Tabatha, create a holographic display. The dragons he'd decided to use were Red Eyes and Blue Eyes, half hoping that Seto would decide to pay them a visit and see what he was doing. Tabatha had shown him how to use the computer system to make the two pre-programmed creatures interact with each other; and Joey had used that knowledge to first make the dragons fight with each other, then act more friendly, eventually flying around the room together and landing at the end. Tau had turned up though, which was a good point, as Joey was sure Tau would tell Seto all about the holograms.

"Save it, Tabatha, I know someone who can get Seto to watch it later." Joey glanced over his shoulder to see Tau talking quietly to Tabatha, who was nodding in agreement. Tau then walked towards him and hugged him from behind.

"That was great, Joey, you'll make a good computer graphics technician one day. Ever thought of becoming an apprentice?"

"No, but I might consider it if I get to play around with holograms all day."

"Sorry, but there's a little more work to it than that."

"I thought there might be," Joey complained.

"Are you ready for lunch, or do you want to do some more work with Tabatha first?"

"What would I be doing with Tabatha?"

"I've got to upload the holographic information to the some of the new prototype duel disks. It won't be that interesting until I need to have someone help me test them this afternoon," Tabatha informed him.

"Food sounds good then."

"I thought it might," Tau said with a grin. "What time do you want him back?"

"About half one would be good, as it means they should have finished loading the information and be fully charged."

"Ok, we'll see you back then."

--

Lunch with Tau was good fun Joey found. He was introduced to a large number of other people which he'd never remember the names of, but everyone was more than happy to talk to him. They ended up sat at a table with a large group of male employees talking about sports. After Joey was introduced to them he immediately became the centre of attention.

"Tau hasn't been making you do all his dirty work has he?" one of the group asked, Joey had already forgotten his name.

"The very idea of me doing something like that," Tau replied, fake offence obvious in his voice.

"I haven't been with him most of this morning. I was working with Tabatha."

"Sounds the kind of job I want. What do I have to do to work with Tabby for a day, Tau?" another member of the group Joey didn't know the name of asked. Joey mentally numbered them all to try and keep track of who said what to him.

"No one would let you be in a room unattended with any female employees," number four said.

"What else have you done while you've been here?" number two asked, eager to move the conversation away from number three's loose morals.

"Yesterday I was just being shown around by Seto, and introduced to the people I'm going to be working with whilst I'm here."

"Sounds a bit boring," number six commented. "What are you interested in doing for a real job?"

"I really don't know at the moment."

"I want him as an apprentice," Tau said with a grin. "I think he's got real promise, unlike you lot."

"Stop showing off, Tau," number three complained.

"Tau likes reminding us all that he's been privately educated and was an apprentice for a couple of years before becoming a very successful employee here." Number one paused in devouring his lunch to explain.

"And we all know why he rose up the ranks in the company so quickly," number four hinted.

"That had nothing to do with it," Tau argued. "I had a relationship with Seto for a couple of months. It didn't go anywhere but we've been good friends all the time and that means these guys think I've got an unfair advantage over them."

"What subjects are you taking?" number two asked, again eager to keep the conversation moving.

Over the next quarter of an hour Joey became more and more relaxed with the group, joining in a discussion about some of the more recent films out in the cinema and what music was decent. Being the only teenager at the table he had a few jokes about how the youth of today don't respect their elders' wishes to turn their music down aimed at him, but even that was all in good fun.

By half an hour he had completely forgotten about his problems with Seto and Tsume. However when Tau and Joey left the canteen Sara walked past them and stopped Tau to talk to him.

"Mr Kaiba's in a bad mood so if you've got any sense you'll stay out of his way today."

"What's happened?" Tau asked her quickly.

"No one's entirely sure what put him in a bad mood this morning, but the electronics report made it worse. He yelled at the entire electronics team this morning after Stark decided to answer back."

"Doesn't sound good, have you left anything in Seto's office?" Tau asked.

"No."

"That's good, any reason you want to see him today?"

"I wasn't planning to."

"That's a wise decision at the moment," Sara advised.

"Thanks for the warning," Tau replied before leading Joey away to the lifts to return to Tabatha.

--

Seto rubbed the bridge of his nose to try and ease the headache that was forming. No one seemed able to get anything right today. He was worried about Joey so his mind wouldn't focus, making him snappy. To make matters worse the report from the electrical team didn't make a blind bit of sense to anyone. When he'd asked about it Stark had decided to try and get on his nerves making Seto loose his small amount of patience that was left. He'd ordered the team to redo the report and have it on his desk by Thursday morning.

Now he was sat on the roof of the building, trying to make himself calm down enough to return to work without snapping at anyone else today.

'Why does Joey affect me so much? Usually I can control my emotions easily, but seeing Joey unhappy this morning has affected me so much today. I can't even think straight.'

Seto lent back against the wall he was sat against and closed his eyes. A slight breeze was blowing across the roof, causing his hair to be blown across his face gently. It felt like feather light touches of fingers against his cheek.

His imagination added a slight weight against his side. A warm, comforting presence that ran their fingers across his cheek. Running a finger gently across his lips and down to cup his chin. His mouth would be met by another's in a gentle kiss. Two strong arms would be put around his body gently to pull him into a hug.

A sigh left Seto's mouth as he opened his eyes again. If Joey didn't cheer up soon nothing like that would ever happen between them.

--

Joey wanted to go and see Seto again, but he also didn't want to see him again. Things were so confusing. He needed to know what was wrong that made Seto loose his temper. If it was something to do with Tsume last night then Joey should be there to be the knight in shinning armour to protect the damsel in distress. The thought of Seto as a damsel in distress was surprisingly appealing and Joey felt the corners of his mouth turn up slightly as the lift continued climbing.

Tau had offered to come with him to see Seto, but Joey knew he needed to ask the CEO alone about his outburst.

The will to turn back was increasing now. All it would take was one press of the button for another floor and he could back out. His fingers itched to press the button for the ground floor and just forget all this. He could just go home and pretend this never happened. Those words echoed in his mind again.

'Nothing happened.'

It was a complete lie! Something had happened. Joey had nearly kissed him, and Seto had nearly kissed back. Seto had lied to him before, Joey was almost certain of that, but never had he said something that had hurt so much. Even his comment about having slept with other people hadn't felt so completely crushing as those two little words. Then to make things worse, just to add salt to the already stinging wounds, Seto had gone to Tsume. He'd let Joey leave and Tsume had replaced him.

The lift doors opened at the top floor and Joey just stood for a moment, wondering if he really wanted to do this. As the lift doors were about to shut he quickly stepped out and watched the lift leave for another floor. He turned around to face the corridor to Seto's office and took a deep breath to try and steady his nerves.

Dragging his feet on the carpet he slowly made his way to the door and lifted his hand to knock. After a brief hesitation he knocked on the door and waited for the familiar voice to tell him to 'come in'.

When no reply came he knocked again.

Again nothing.

Joey pushed the door open and peered through the gap. The office was empty. Seto wasn't here.

A sigh escaped Joey's lips as he stepped into the office and walked to the windows. It was a beautiful view up here across the city, especially with the sun illuminating the buildings in red as it set. He realised that his breath was fogging up the glass as he watched the scene, and pulled back from the window.

Deciding that leaving was the best option right now he glanced around the room once more and headed for the door.

--

Seto watched the sunset from the roof of the building. He'd always found it beautiful, as the fiery orange spread its rays across the cityscape. Bronze rivers of light flowed towards the horizon and out of sight.

He shivered as the warmth disappeared. His coat was still in the office so he wrapped his arms around himself in an effort to keep as much heat in his body as possible. He really needed a hug right now, a warm comfort that someone else cared he was unhappy and cold. Seto watched the last rays of gold disappear over the horizon as darkness descended around him. He took a few steps towards the edge of the roof so that he could see the road where people were driving their cars home from a busy day of work. A slight smile spread across his lips as he saw a scruff of blond hair illuminated briefly by a lamp post as he left Kaiba Corp to go home.

--

--

Heva: Well what did you think of it?

Coel: I liked the bit about the holographic dragons.

Heva: I liked the end with Seto on the roof the best, reminds me of my creative writing coursework actually but I still think it's a good chapter ending. Anyway tell me what you think, that review button is just down there in the corner waiting to be pressed. Even if you don't want to review thanks for reading it and I hope you enjoyed it.


	8. Wednesday 3rd day of work experience

Wednesday – Third day of work experience

--

Heva: Grrr! I'm fed up with my head of sixth form, I swear he's making things up now. After last week's mess up he's changing the rules just so that he can make life difficult for me and my best friend. Well he's picked the wrong people to mess with because I have the majority of the teaching staff on my side and a currently spotless record.

Coel: I have a feeling this will all end in tears. Don't get yourself expelled Heva, it's not worth it.

Heva: I don't think he's stupid enough to expel me and my group of friends. Well unless he hasn't looked at the AS grades, it's not sensible to get rid of the majority of your top students.

Coel: Whilst she's still complaining and plotting her method of revenge I'll start the chapter. Enjoy reading it whilst I try and shut Heva up. Also just to remind anyone who's forgotten she still doesn't own anything even though she did ask for Seto for her birthday.

--

Wednesday – Third day of work experience

--

Sleep hadn't improved Seto's mood. Admittedly he was more relaxed now than he had been when he yelled at the electrical team, but that was due to that brief glimpse of Joey last night. If anything he was feeling more frustrated now than when he went to sleep.

As he poured his morning coffee he decided that if the mutt was still in a dismal mood this morning he wasn't going to care.

--

Joey's mood was able to rival Seto's apathy this morning. He'd decided that, however much it hurt to try and move on, it wasn't worth his time to mend things with someone like Seto.

Making himself a mug of hot chocolate he drank it quickly before getting dressed into the clothes Seto had given him.

'No he lent them to me,' Joey thought. 'It's not worth Seto's time and money giving something to someone like me. No, not Seto any more, his name's Kaiba,' he thought bitterly.

--

Seto picked up the phone on his desk, expecting it to be an employee or something connected with his work. The last person he expected it to be was Georgie, and what made things more worrying was that she'd switched back to speaking English between her sobbing.

"Dad got transferred," was the first sentence Seto managed to understand her say.

"Where to?" he asked when her crying calmed down enough to make Seto think she would be able to hear him.

"Back to England. We're leaving on Sunday," she managed to choke out before breaking down in hysterical tears again.

"That's a good thing, isn't it? You get to go home and see all your old friends again," Seto felt like he wasn't trying to convince Georgie that this was for the best, he was trying to convince himself. Somehow over the last couple of months she had been in his life he'd come to depend on her being there to look after Mokuba and himself when they needed it. With her leaving it meant that the stability he'd got used to disappeared as well.

"I don't want to go back to my old friends, I like my new friends," she sobbed down the phone line. "You and Mokuba are great, and I've been so afraid of loosing Kay as a friend ever since I met her. I can't leave, Seto."

"You can come back and visit," Seto suggested, feeling his own emotional walls beginning to break under the strain.

"I don't want to leave," Georgie managed to get out again. Seto heard her mother yelling something in the background in English. "I've got to get off the phone. I have to pack my bags." The phone line went dead and Seto put it back down on his desk.

"I can't loose her."

--

Joey walked over to the now familiar lift. He smiled to the receptionist who grinned back at him while she spoke to someone on the phone. Sara passed him on her way out of the lift and gave him a smile as well. Joey kept his fake smile in place as the lift doors shut behind him. The lift was crowded as people were making their way to their offices or labs for this morning's work. As the lift went higher it got more and more empty, eventually leaving Joey on his own as it reached the top floor.

He stepped out onto the beige carpet and began the short walk to Kaiba's office. As he was about to knock on the door he paused as he thought he heard a sob through the wooden door. He strained his ears to try and hear it again. Giving up he knocked and waited for a reply. There was a brief rustling and the sound of a draw being shut in the desk.

"Come in," was said after a cough when Kaiba cleared his throat. Joey pushed open the door and immediately noticed the slight redness around Kaiba's eyes that showed he'd been crying. If he hadn't been looking for it he probably wouldn't have noticed though.

"Did you have fun yesterday?" Kaiba asked without letting a hint of emotion show in his voice or expression. Joey realised that the mask was back in place; Kaiba was shutting him out completely. His chance was gone and would probably never come back again. The realisation hurt but Joey reminded himself that he was planning to do the same to Kaiba so it shouldn't bother him.

"Yes. Tabatha was very nice and Tau introduced me to a lot of people at lunch who were really fun to talk to." There wasn't a flicker of emotion showing in Kaiba's eyes, they looked almost dead. The usual sparkle had vanished, and Joey felt lost without it. He'd been using Kaiba's eyes to tell his emotions for what felt like years and he'd never seen them look so empty before.

"You were ok with Tau's accent, I hope. Usually people struggle to understand him when they aren't used to it."

"No, it was fine. What accent is it, by the way?" Joey hoped to see some kind of emotion appear now that Tau was the topic of discussion. If they'd had a relationship in the past, there should be something, shouldn't there?

"Italian. Do you want me to take you to see the security team now?"

"Ok," Joey replied. Nothing had shown in Kaiba's eyes through the entire conversation. He'd shut Joey out completely and if Kaiba didn't want Joey, Joey had decided that he didn't want anything to do with Kaiba.

--

It was the second day in a row Seto couldn't focus in the slightest. On Monday he had been able to do some work while watching the films with Joey, and he'd got a large amount done before the mutt had arrived. Yesterday he'd been able to focus in the morning, but seeing Joey so unhappy and quiet when he arrived Seto hadn't been able to work for the rest of the day. Now, not only was Joey being distant, Georgie was leaving as well.

'I'm loosing everyone I care about,' Seto thought miserably as he put his head in his hands. He felt the tears begin to gather at the corners' of his eyes and overflow down his cheeks. 'Just as I see Tsume again I loose everyone else. Mokie won't leave me, will he? Everyone else is.' Seto pulled the draw with his tissues open again and wiped the tears off his cheeks. He needed to get himself together. There was no point in sulking, it wouldn't change anything.

Forcing himself to take a few deep breaths and clear his thoughts he managed to calm himself enough to regain rational thought. It was a technique he'd developed to not give Gozaburo the satisfaction of seeing him loose his nerve at any time. Clearing his mind of the negative thoughts and blocking them off, temporarily, he would have to face them eventually.

Feeling in a better frame of mind he picked up the first few sheets of paperwork he needed to do and pulled a pen towards himself. This was going to be a long day.

--

Joey looked at all the monitors on the wall.

"We can look at every single camera in the entire building from here," the security guard was telling him. "There's also a face recognition system so that any employee can be recognised by the computer, it means that people can be automatically signed in and out of the building without having to use security cards like most places. Of course we still have security cards to access certain areas of the building."

"Am I on the system?" Joey asked, slightly concerned that he'd been recorded onto the system without knowing about it. Thinking back to the contract it had probably been on it somewhere.

"We can check," the security guard said as he began typing on his computer. "You've got a profile from a few years back. According to this you're one of the top ranking duellists, Mr Kaiba was the last person to edit it so he obviously thinks you're worthy of that title."

"He must have made the profile in Battle City," Joey muttered thoughtfully.

"There were a large number of profiles created shortly before that tournament, but yours appears to have been created after Duelist Kingdom. All the quarter finalists from any official tournaments are added to the system so that future champions can be located before they enter the national tournaments. It means that Kaiba Corp can be aware of which duellists are appropriate to invite for future challenges."

It made sense that Kaiba Corp would want to know who would be top of the duelist leader boards before everyone else, purely for advertising purposes. They would know who to bring into tournaments to make the most interesting duels, and most challenging competition for those in the position of international champion. One other thought wouldn't leave him alone though,

'Kaiba thinks I'm worthy to be a top rank duelist?'

--

Seto didn't even hear the knock on his door at midday. The door was opened and shut also without gaining his attention. Sara was surprised by the lack of notice she was receiving, her employer was usually very attentive. The stack of paperwork in his out tray was evidence enough of his unhappiness.

'When something is bothering him that he doesn't want to think about he will work without any kind of attention to what is going on around him. The work will be done very thoroughly and in vast quantities but be warned, he won't stop working for anything unless reminded and it is impossible to continue like that for long before he will need to be forced into taking a break.'

She'd never seen him like this before; in her experience so far he'd always faced his problems and dealt with them as soon as they arose. Another wad of sheets was put on the now unstable pile in the out tray.

Sara coughed and Seto looked up as he was reaching for the next stack of reports he needed to read.

"Yes?" he asked, in a very businesslike manner.

"I came to give you a print out of the information about the meeting on Friday with Pegasus. It's the same as the information on the email I sent you apart from the list of people who are attending the meeting has been altered."

"Thank you," Seto answered, taking the offered sheet and placing it on his laptop keyboard.

"You need to take a break and have lunch," she ventured. Sara had only eaten lunch with Seto a couple of times in the past; first when she was on her first day without the previous secretary there to help her, and again when she had a fall out with one of the receptionists. Seto had asked her why she had got annoyed with the receptionist and sent her a copy of the receptionist shift timetable so that she could avoid the lobby when ever that particular receptionist was on duty.

"I'm not hungry or tired," Seto replied as he began reading the next report.

"Join me for lunch," Sara internally grimaced as she realised how that must have sounded to Seto.

"What do you want, Sara?" Seto asked with a sigh, putting the report down. Now they were getting to what was wrong, Sara hoped.

"To know what has put you in such a bad mood."

"If you must know I got some bad news this morning, that's all. It's nothing to concern yourself with. Stress over the new duel disk system caused me to get annoyed yesterday, which is why I snapped at the electrical team."

"Are you ok now?" Sara asked, hoping he wouldn't lie and remain cooped up in this office.

"I'll be fine, thanks for being concerned though," Seto replied, allowing a slight smile onto his face to try and reassure her.

"That's good." Sara left the office, convinced Seto was alright.

'At least she isn't going to leave me anytime soon,' Seto thought as he watched her go.

--

Joey got home and dropped his bags onto the floor. It felt like the day had sped past in almost no time at all. He'd stopped off at the bank and withdrawn some money before going shopping for food. Pulling a microwave meal out of the nearest bag he went into the kitchen to cook it.

In ten minutes he was sat in front of the television on the sofa, a fork in one hand and a tray with the meal on it in the other. A rerun of one of his favourite episodes of a comedy series was on so it wasn't long before he was laughing. He used to watch this programme with Tristan and then later with his dad. As the adverts came on part way through the programme Joey turned to talk to someone on the sofa next to him and was reminded that he was alone in the apartment.

Standing up to take his tray out to the kitchen he felt the quietness of the apartment around him. No one was there with him. He was alone. His dad had gone away with work and Tristan was probably with their other friends, not thinking about Joey. Hoping one of his friends had decided to call him and ask how his work experience was going, or his dad had rung to say when he'd be back, Joey walked over to where the answer machine was in the hallway. There were no messages.

Joey wandered aimlessly around the apartment after switching off the TV, without someone there to enjoy the programme with it just didn't seem that funny anymore. He spotted the bags of food he'd left in the hallway and carried them through to the kitchen to unpack into the cupboards, fridge and freezer. This took him an hour as he paused to read the label on each item to try and keep his mind occupied. There were a surprising number of food items that contained sulphur dioxide which he was sure wasn't a good thing, but the manufacturers knew more about it than he did so he decided it wasn't worth worrying about.

Walking back into the living room he decided it was time someone cleaned it. After moving all the magazines and other objects from the floor, he got the vacuum cleaner out from the cupboard in the hallway and began to clean the carpet. He then rearranged the furniture so that each seat could see the television and reach the table.

The next room to get a clean was his bedroom, which really needed it. He left his dad's bedroom, the bathroom and kitchen alone, but gave the hallway a quick vacuum.

When he had finished he noticed that it was past eleven at night and decided he ought to try and sleep. He pulled off his borrowed trousers and jacket before changing into his pyjamas.

Switching off his light and snuggling down into his duvet Joey felt sleep take him almost instantly.

--

Seto couldn't sleep. He'd spent all evening helping Georgie and her mum pack up all their belongings into cardboard boxes. Mokuba had spent the entire time crying and yelling about how it was unfair that Georgie and her mum had to leave after such a short time. Seto didn't know how to even begin comforting his younger brother so settled on reminding him that they would visit Georgie regularly.

Part way through the evening Seto had ended up talking with Georgie's mother and suggested they use one of his jets to take their luggage over to England. It would prevent the problem of airport weight limits and stop the dogs having to be checked through the airport system as well.

Georgie's mother had actually hugged him and told him in very broken Japanese that he was a very thoughtful and caring young man. He had tried to persuade her that it was the least he could do after the number of times she had looked after Mokuba for him.

"I never got to make you taste my cooking," Georgie sobbed as she helped Mokuba unravel another sheet of bubble wrap to put around the DVD player before it went into a cardboard box.

"You'll have to cook something when we come and visit you," Mokuba told her in between his tears.

"You can cook us a really spectacular lunch, and give us a guided tour of where you live," Seto agreed.

"Like the one Mokuba gave me of Domino?" Georgie said critically.

"Just like that one," Mokuba replied with a slight smile. He'd taken Georgie round most of the shops before dragging her off to Kaiba Corp where he'd pointed out locations around the city from the roof. It hadn't been a very effective tour, but it hadn't taken long before she found her way around most of the city.

Seto was brought out of his thoughts by a knock on his bedroom door.

"Can't you sleep?" he asked.

"Can I sleep with you tonight?" Mokuba asked as he walked over to Seto's bed. Seto sighed and pulled down the duvet so Mokuba to climb in next to him. The mattress shifted with the added weight as Mokuba snuggled up to his brother.

Seto felt his eyelids begin to droop as he felt the warmth of the other body in the bed spread to him. It was so comforting to have someone else curled up next to him.

"Your feet are cold," he murmured, as Mokuba accidently kicked his shin in an effort to get comfortable in Seto's arms.

"Tough," was the muttered reply as Mokuba yawned. It wasn't long before both brothers drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

--

Seto awoke when Mokuba hit him accidentally whilst dreaming. The resultant yelp as Seto woke up in surprise, holding his side where Mokuba's fist had landed, woke Mokuba from his nightmare. Hearing the muffled curse as Seto tried to see if there was a bruise in near pitch blackness, Mokuba tried to find the lamp on the bedside table. Light flooded the scene an instant later as Seto was holding his pyjama shirt up trying to look at a quickly appearing bruise. The purple splodge was marking his pale skin quite badly, but Mokuba knew from past experiences that Seto's bruises always looked far worse than they actually were and faded away after only a few days.

"Sorry," Mokuba mumbled as he rubbed sleep from his eyes.

"It's ok, just the perfect ending to the perfect day. Go back to sleep, Mokie," Seto replied, lowering the shirt and lying back down in the bed.

--

Heva: That chapter seems shorter than the others.

Coel: (shrugs) I think it is the shortest chapter so far, but it's got some important plot points in it.

Heva: Oh well, I hope you still liked it. The next chapter will be up next Friday, unless I get stuck in some form of detention thanks to my head of sixth form. It is possible I have a rehearsal next Friday though for the village pantomime so I may have to upload next Saturday instead. It'll be up next weekend anyway so have a great week.

Date: 26/09/2008


	9. Thursday 4th day of work experience

Thursday – Fourth day of work experience

Heva: Ooh long chapter. I hope its as good as the other chapters as it is over double the length of the last one.

Coel: Also happy birthday to Solo's Orca. I hope you had a great day.

Heva: It's my birthday next Thursday, and the I have the best birthday present ever already arranged for myself.

Coel: A doctor's appointment to discuss the results of her latest blood test.

Heva: Anaemia is not fun but writing this story is so enjoy reading it.

--

--

Thursday – Fourth day of work experience

--

Joey awoke in the same sense of numbness he'd achieved last night from his constant attempts to keep busy. Sitting up in bed he shuddered at the cold air which was surrounding him. The crisp October air around him was too cold for the usual morning air and he remembered that he'd opened the window whilst cleaning. Joey groaned as he realised he must have forgotten to close it so who knows what got into the house during the night. Nothing looked disturbed in the room so he guessed that he hadn't been robbed or had any stray animals get in. He stood up and closed the window to try and keep in any remaining warmth.

Getting ready for going back to Kaiba Corp again today, and having to face Kaiba, Joey noticed the letter he'd lost last week. Picking it up from its place on the kitchen counter he opened it up to see what had been written inside.

'Joey,

'I hope you feel better soon and are able to do all that wild partying with your friends I know you were looking forward to with your old man away. I left you some money for groceries in the draw by my bed, so when you feel better you can do a bit of shopping, but order a few take outs for yourself from the menus by the phone until then.

'Your friend, Georgie, phoned last night after you went to sleep and she told me you were doing your work experience with Seto. She also said that both of you like each other but won't take the first step to get a relationship started. Apparently she's been trying to get Seto to ask you out for a while now but has failed to get any results other than him trying to start a conversation with you. I said that you were probably making things difficult for him which made her laugh. She thinks that you're more likely to ask Seto out and said that she hopes I can persuade you to do so. Please try and make things work for the two of you, Joey, from what Georgie was saying it sounds like he really cares about you but has a funny way of showing it.

'Have a fun week, and don't wreck the apartment fooling around with your new boyfriend. I'll see you on Friday.

'Dad.'

Joey dropped the letter on the kitchen table as he ate a bowl of cereal. 'If Se-Kaiba cares about me, he certainly has a very funny way of showing it,' Joey thought miserably. 'So Georgie's been trying to get me and Kaiba together for a while. Kaiba really has got everyone fooled; he pretended to care about me enough to make Georgie try and set me up, then when it almost works he just blanks me out of his life again. He's probably finding it really funny how he managed to lead me on so far that I nearly kissed him. I must seem so pathetic and easily manipulated to him right now.'

He let the spoon drop into his bowl, splashing milk and soggy cornflakes across the table. His appetite had vanished as he felt his anger and frustration build up.

"I'm going to go tell that stuck up jerk exactly what I think of him!" Joey announced loudly to the room as he stood up from the chair, knocking the table and spilling the bowl's contents across its surface and part of the floor.

--

Seto woke up as he felt Mokuba stir next to him, muttering something about not wanting to eat his vegetables. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes Seto glanced down at his still sleeping brother. Mokuba always looked peaceful in his sleep, unless he was dreaming like he was now. A frown was present as he argued with an imaginary person about how vegetables tasted nasty so he wouldn't eat them. Seto heard his own name as Mokuba continued to whine about how he didn't care what Seto offered him he wouldn't eat the spinach.

He managed to crawl out from under the duvet without disturbing the still complaining Mokuba from his dream argument. Getting washed and dressed in the bathroom he looked at his newly acquired bruise in the mirror. It was fairly large and now a purple-blue colour that stood out from his pale skin. Seto grimaced as he pulled his shirt on to cover the blemish. No one would be able to see anyway and it would fade soon enough.

"Seto?" he heard Mokuba call from the other room.

"Eat your spinach," Seto replied as he finished buttoning his shirt up and left the bathroom.

"I was talking in my sleep again, wasn't I?" Mokuba asked sheepishly as he pulled the duvet around him.

"Yes, what do you want for breakfast?"

"Um, pancakes," Mokuba replied with only a moment's hesitation.

"Again? We had them on Monday."

"But they're my favourite, Seto," Mokuba whined, still trying to act childish by pulling the blankets tighter and use the puppy dog eyes. It was a tactic that always worked on Seto in the past and probably the reason Mokuba always acted childishly, at least that was Seto's opinion.

"I thought a fry up was your favourite?" Seto asked as he tried to work out which tie and jacket would go best with the shirt and trousers he was wearing.

"It was yesterday, but pancakes are my favourite today."

"Well, I guess we can have pancakes then, but you are not allowed to pour the maple syrup this time." Seto thought of the sticky mess Mokuba had left all over the table, floor and anything he touched. Admittedly Seto had left it for the maid to clean up whilst they were out of the house, but that didn't mean he'd let Mokuba leave such a mess again today.

--

"Looking forward to having tomorrow off school?" Seto asked his younger sibling as he pulled into the school car park.

"Of course. Is it still ok that we do paint balling in the garden?"

"If your report is good and as long as you don't go in the ornamental part of the garden. I don't want paint in the fish pond, remember."

"Don't worry about a thing, big brother," Mokuba reassured Seto with a smile that Seto had always associated with trouble in the past. Mokuba was about to get out of the car when Seto stopped him and tapped his cheek.

"Fine," Mokuba complained, and leaned across the car to give Seto a kiss on the cheek. It was a sweet gesture that they'd always done as a reassurance that each other was there for them. Right now Seto really needed that reassurance and as he drove away from the school he couldn't help bringing his hand up to his cheek to remind himself that no matter who else left him, Mokuba would always still be there.

--

The office was empty when Joey arrived. He turned a full circle to make sure that Kaiba wasn't hiding anywhere in the shadows. His rage was beginning to ebb away which irritated him as he wanted to still be annoyed with the CEO.

The door was pushed open and Sara stepped into the office holding an unstable stack of papers.

"What are you doing here so early?" she asked Joey as she walked to the desk to put the papers down on the surface, where they promptly spread across the empty space. "Mr Kaiba won't be in for at least another half hour, so do you want a coffee or something else to drink while you wait?"

"Can I have a hot chocolate?" Joey asked, his annoyance disappearing as he felt his initial energy fade.

"Certainly, do you want to stay in here and I'll bring one up for you?" Sara smiled as Joey nodded in reply. She left the room as Joey sat down on the sofa.

Joey looked around the office, trying to work out what to do for the next half an hour while he waited for Kaiba to turn up. 'I wonder what he's doing,' Joey thought. The windows lit up as the first few rays of morning sun reached it and pierced the gloom in the office.

'It must be early if the sun's just risen. I wonder what the time actually is.' Joey looked around the office and spotted a clock on the far wall. It showed that the time was a bit before seven thirty.

'Stupid October, making the sun rise so late,' Joey thought to himself. (Heva: I know in Japan the sun rise and sun set probably won't be anywhere near the times we have in England in October but the main thing to do is suspend belief for a while and just pretend that it could happen.)

Standing up to have a look at what was on Kaiba's desk Joey decided that paperwork was as boring as everyone said it was. He glanced around the room to see if anyone was watching him. Finding the coast clear he pulled open the top draw of Kaiba's desk and peered inside.

The contents wasn't very interesting; a box of tissues, an unopened pack of post-it notes, a collection of pens and pencils, a stapler and a hole punch. Joey shut the draw and opened the next one down. This one was more interesting.

Joey pulled the small book out of the draw and opened it at where the piece of ribbon was being used as a bookmark. It was a diary, with the major events that had happened each day written in. The book was open at yesterday and Kaiba had noted in that J, which Joey concluded must be him, was with the security team. The next note that had been put in was that G phoned about leaving, plane on Sunday. Joey wasn't sure what that meant but it may have something to do with why Kaiba had looked so upset when he had turned up that morning. The next note was about the electrical team's report which Joey wasn't interested in. He scanned down the page to the last note.

'Help G and her mum pack. Will offer to have a pilot take them back to England in jet.'

'Back to England?' Joey thought. 'Georgie comes from England, she can't be leaving, can she? No wonder Seto was so upset yesterday.' Wanting to see if there were any other notes that might confirm his suspicions Joey turned to today in the diary.

'M gets report today. Good grades mean friends over tomorrow. No need for adult supervision to be arranged. R will watch them.'

'J with S.'

'M leaves school at twelve so will come to office with report and eat in canteen.'

Joey concluded that M meant Mokuba and assumed that he was breaking up from school today for half term. R probably meant Roland and Joey remembered Seto commenting on Roland looking after Mokuba on Friday so that all seemed to fit.

He turned the next few pages until he reached Saturday. The date was circled in red at the top of the page, 25th October, but Joey didn't know of any significance of the date.

'M wants to get a take out for lunch and rent a few movies. Don't think he has anything planned.'

"Here's your hot chocolate," Sara said as she pushed open the door again, holding three mugs this time. She noticed the black book Joey was holding. "Anything interesting?"

"I think I know why Seto was in a bad mood yesterday," Joey replied, hoping that sharing gossip would get him out of trouble for snooping through Seto's belongings. 'When did I start calling him Seto again?' Joey thought to himself.

"What happened?" Sara asked, putting the three mugs down on a clear part of the desk.

"Georgie told him she was going back to England." Joey picked up the nearest mug and was about to take a sip when he inhaled the strong aroma of coffee.

"That's Mr Kaiba's coffee," Sara said with a slight smile as she took the mug off Joey and handed him a different one. "This one's your hot chocolate."

"I doubt Seto would like me drinking his coffee, and I hate coffee," Joey commented as he took a sip of his hot chocolate. It had a rich flavour and he assumed it was probably some of the expensive, high quality coco that he would almost certainly never get again. He decided that he should try and get as many hot chocolates in the next couple of days as he could so he could remember there wonderful taste.

"How's the hot chocolate?"

"Amazing." Sara smiled as she sipped her own drink. She liked Joey; he may be snooping through Seto's office but he seemed fairly honest, and she assumed that Joey had been looking for clues as to why Seto had been acting so strangely yesterday. They both turned as they heard footsteps outside the office. Joey quickly dropped the book back in the draw and shut it.

--

Seto parked the car in his usual place and walked towards the lobby. It was turning into quite a nice day, weather wise at least, and he decided to take the long walk round through the gardens that had been set up a few years back for the employees to relax in when the weather was nice. They'd even had the company picnic here during the summer. Mokuba had decided it was a good idea and started arranging it before even telling Seto what he was doing.

Seto breathed in the crisp morning air before walking into the building through the set of doors that opened onto the gardens.

He stepped into the lift with a few other people who had decided to come in earlier than usual. They didn't chat, probably preoccupied with whatever work they needed to complete today, or were worried Seto would shout at them like he had at the electrical team on Tuesday.

Seto's earlier good mood had disappeared by the time he left the lift and began the walk to his office. He just wanted to go home and curl up in bed again, preferably without Mokuba there to hit him or talk in his sleep. Approaching his office he heard voices, Sara and Joey were already in his office. 'What is the mutt doing here this early?' Seto wondered.

He pushed open the door knowing the only way to find out would be to talk to the pup.

--

"Morning, money bags," Joey said cheerfully, hoping Seto would either complain about the nickname or act how he had on Monday morning.

"Hello, mutt. He's all yours today, Sara, unless you get bored of him and want to send him up here to watch a film or test out the new duel disks with Mokuba this afternoon."

"I've got a lot of filing and cataloguing he can help me with," Sara replied. "I brought up your morning coffee and the new report from the electrical team. I glanced through it when I got in this morning and it seems more understandable this time."

"That's good, I don't want to fire any of them."

"Can you look after Joey for a while as I need to talk with a few people before I get back to filing, and I'm pretty certain me talking on the phone isn't very interesting to watch."

"Of course," Seto replied, both him and Joey watching Sara leave. She turned slightly in the doorway and mouthed 'good luck'.

Joey assumed she had realised he wanted to talk to Seto about something and was saying good luck to him managing to finish saying it before Seto took out his frustration on him.

Seto assumed that she was saying good luck to him for asking Joey out, he knew Kay had told her about Joey after she had been so accurate in her comment on the video.

They turned to each other, both about to say what they had been meaning to for the last couple of days. Joey got there first.

"Kaiba, I don't care what you think you're doing messing about with my feelings and then going off with that other guy, Tsume, but nothing gives you the right to do that. You may" Joey was cut off as Seto grabbed the collar of his jacket.

"I don't know where you got the idea that I was messing about with your feelings or that me and Tsume were in a relationship, Joey. I like you a lot, pup, and I really hope that you feel the same way." Seto let go of Joey's jacket and took a step back from the blond. Joey continued to stare at him in a state of shock and Seto began to loose any hope that Joey might care about him back. He let his shoulders sag and his gaze dropped to the floor in defeat. It was all over then. Joey didn't share his feelings and now any chance of even friendship with the pup was gone as anything would be too awkward between them.

'Why did I tell him?' Seto asked himself silently. He suddenly looked up as felt two hands on his shoulders.

"You should have said something sooner, of course I feel the same way," Joey said quietly before leaning forwards and capturing Seto's lips with his own. Joey moved his hand up to cup Seto's cheek as his lips moved against Seto's own lips. It was just like he'd imagined it would be, except more intense. He slid his other arm around Seto's body and pulled the CEO flush against him. Seto pushed him away after a muffled 'ouch'. He rubbed his side gently as Joey looked puzzled.

"I got bruised last night and it's still a bit sore," Seto explained.

"How'd you get injured?" Joey asked, managing to stop himself from adding 'when you were just doing packing.' Seto blushed a bit in embarrassment as he mumbled something inaudible. "Can't hear you, Seto."

"I said Mokuba hit me in his sleep last night," Seto told him a bit louder. Joey started laughing at the thought of Mokuba sleep walking and managing to hit Seto whilst he was wandering around the mansion. Joey's laughing made Seto smile a little in relief at seeing Joey back to his old self.

"Has anyone ever told you that you've got a beautiful smile?" Joey asked as he reached up to brush his hand against Seto's cheek. It was strange to finally feel allowed to touch Seto, not just look at him from afar as it felt like he'd done for years. After dreaming for months about pushing Seto around and roughly taking him against various items of furniture, Joey now found he was happy to just be close to him.

"No," Seto replied, leaning into Joey's caress, liking the way the fingers felt against his cheek. "Has anyone told you how amazing your eyes look when they are lit up with your happiness?"

"No, and that sounds like a line from a corny romance film."

"So did yours, pup."

"That doesn't mean I didn't mean every word I said," Joey replied as he pulled Seto towards him again, careful not to put pressure on his side where the bruise was. Seto wriggled slightly in the embrace so that he could lean his head on Joey's shoulder. Joey could tell that Seto was slouching slightly to prevent his height from making this position uncomfortable for them both. A frown appeared on Joey's face as he remembered Seto's shoes had substantial heels on them so Seto couldn't really be that much taller than he was.

"Are you really taller than me, or is it just the shoes?" Joey asked.

"I'm taller than you, pup."

"You used to be a lot taller than me, but I've grown a lot in the last few months, moneybags."

"My name's Seto, not moneybags, pup, and I know you've grown a lot in the last few months."

"Well, moneybags," Joey put emphasis on the knick name, "my name is Joey but you still call me mutt and pup. Also I want to know if I'm taller than you, so take off your high heeled shoes so I can see."

"Fine, mutt," Seto said as he pushed himself away from Joey and leant on his desk to pull off his boots. As he did so Joey took off his own shoes, deciding it wasn't fair unless he did as well. When they were both shoeless Joey stood in front of Seto and tried to work out if he was taller. Unfortunately it was impossible to tell and whilst he was busy trying someone knocked on the door. Seto took a step backwards away from Joey.

"Come in."

Sara walked into the office and immediately noticed the lack of footwear. She decided it was one of those things she shouldn't question.

"Who's taller, me or Seto?" Joey asked before she could speak. That was certainly not what she expected but who knew what was really going on.

"I've no idea," Sara replied honestly. "If you stand back to back I'll be able to tell, though." Both boys obediently stood back to back, although Seto looked reluctant to do so. "Joey's slightly taller, not by much though."

"Yeah!" Joey yelled, causing Seto to jump in surprise. "I said I was taller. It's just your high heels that make you tall."

"Congratulations. Please take him away," Seto begged Sara, it wasn't a genuine plea but Sara nodded anyway, knowing Seto did need to get some work done today and with Mokuba turning up this afternoon he wasn't going to have that much time.

"Come on, Joey. I'll show you the thrills of filing."

"Let me just get my shoes on," Joey replied as he tried to force the shoes back on. Sara couldn't help but smile as she noticed the difference in shoe size between Joey and Seto. 'Joey's not just taller, he's bigger than Seto in a lot of ways,' she thought with a grin.

--

Seto worked with a smile all morning. He hadn't felt this good in what felt like years, but thoughts of loosing Georgie were threatening to ruin his ecstatic mood. Needing another coffee he stood up from his desk and stretched. He glanced out the windows at the view across the city. It was beginning to get cloudy, spoiling the scene.

'Reminds me of my thoughts. Everything's great except for this cloud hanging over it all.' Pausing in his thoughts Seto considered picking up the phone. He could ring Georgie and tell her what happened this morning. No doubt she'd love to hear about it all, but talking to her would cause him to get upset again and they'd both end up crying about how she wouldn't be around anymore to see how Seto and Joey's relationship progressed. He would be going round there tonight anyway so he would tell her then.

--

Joey was in the lobby with Sara when Mokuba ran in through the doors. He was followed by a girl who looked about the same age as him, wearing her red hair in pigtails. Joey watched the pair run to the lift without pausing to let people get out of the lift first.

"Yes, he's just turned up, Mr Kaiba, and he's got a friend with him." Joey turned to look at the receptionist as he heard her talking to Seto on the telephone.

"Do you want to go and have lunch with them?" Sara asked as she finished signing off the sheet. They'd come down to get the key for the storage rooms to put the boxes of files in. Joey had been surprised when Sara explained that the keys had to be signed out and that there were only three copies of each key. He understood now that it was for security reasons as there was information in some of the files that competitors would love to get their hands on.

"If you don't mind," Joey replied, he was feeling very hungry having not eaten much this morning. Most of his breakfast was still on the table and floor in his kitchen.

"Not at all. I'll come and find you later on to help me move the boxes to the storage rooms."

"See you later, then," Joey said as he hurried towards the lift.

--

Seto replaced the phone on his desk and began putting paperweights on all his paperwork. He didn't want it pushed off his desk like it had been in the past when Mokuba came to show him his report. Seto had no idea where Mokuba got his energy from, but it had a way of managing to wreck havoc on his office whenever Mokuba got excited about something. If Mokuba had a friend with him it just meant double the trouble, especially if he let them spend any sort of time unsupervised around the building.

The doors to his office were suddenly pushed open to let Mokuba in, followed by … a girl. Seto was surprised to see the young red head with his brother, he knew Mokuba had had a few crushes on girls in the past, but this was the first time he'd brought a girl to meet Seto.

"Seto meet Kari. Kari this is my older brother, Seto. He's not actually as scary as he likes to make people think he is." Mokuba grinned at Kari and then back at Seto as he said this.

"It's nice to meet you," Kari said quietly as she took a few hesitant steps towards Seto's desk.

"It's nice to meet you too, Kari," Seto replied, wondering if he should try and start a conversation with her. She was obviously quite shy and he knew that it was intimidating for people who didn't know him when they were shown up to his office. It was designed to intimidate people from other companies so a shy young girl, like Kari seemed to be, was understandably nervous.

"I've got my report, and I've already told everyone that we can do paintballing tomorrow," Mokuba announced to his brother as he handed the once white envelope over to Seto.

"You're not meant to have read your report yet. They put them in a sealed envelope and it has my name on the front as your guardian," Seto pointed out as he tipped the already crumpled report out of its pre-opened envelope onto his desk.

"Like you really care that I've read it before you," Mokuba complained as the doors to the office opened again to let Joey in. "Hi Joey. Do you want to come paintballing with me and my friends tomorrow? I'm sure Seto will let you off work for a day if I persuade him you can be our adult supervision."

"Mokuba, I haven't decided if you can do paintballing tomorrow yet, because I haven't read your report, so you can't start asking Joey to be your adult supervision. Besides he's meant to be doing work experience tomorrow, not babysitting you."

"But Seto, it's a good report, I know I've got better grades than we agreed I needed to have friends over tomorrow," Mokuba whined.

"How was your morning, Joey?" Seto asked, ignoring Mokuba's continued whines about how Seto was being unfair.

"I never knew that sorting through paperwork was so boring. You really need to give Sara a pay rise for having to deal with all that, and we've got to lug the whole lot down to the storage rooms this afternoon."

"Do you two want to earn some extra pocket money this afternoon?" Seto asked Mokuba, who was still muttering, and Kari, who was still nervously looking between Seto and Joey.

"Ok," Kari said quietly.

"What do we have to do?" Mokuba asked suspiciously.

"Help, Joey and Sara take the boxes down to the storage rooms."

"How come I don't get paid for it?" Joey complained.

"Because you're on work experience, these two are temporary employees." Seto noticed a slight smile on Kari's face as Joey whined about how unfair Seto was. Mokuba started agreeing with Joey that Seto was unfair and Seto went back to reading Mokuba's report.

--

Lunch was an experience, Joey decided. He'd never spent much time with both Seto and Mokuba in the past; it was usually one or the other of them. Spending time with both brothers meant that you saw the side of Seto which was caring, considerate and bossy. He reminded Joey of how his mum acted towards him and Serenity.

"Seto?" Mokuba whined after he'd complained about not wanting to eat the vegetables on his plate. Joey and Kari had been left confused by the slight grin that Seto and Mokuba had shared at the complaint.

"Yes, Mokie?"

"Can Kari stay over tonight? It's just her parents are away and I said she could stay with us instead of being left on her own."

"We're helping Georgie again tonight, Mokie, but if Kari doesn't mind helping as well then I don't see why not."

"Thanks, Seto, you're the best big brother ever," Mokuba said as he jumped up from his seat and hugged Seto.

"Thank you, Seto," Kari agreed quietly.

"No problem, but Mokuba's got to set up a spare bedroom for you, when we get home."

"Fine," Mokuba said as he sat back down and switched his empty bowl, that had contained a slice of chocolate cake, with Seto's bowl, that still had an uneaten slice of chocolate cake. Joey watched as Mokuba devoured Seto's cake without a single complaint from the CEO. He doubted if many people would dare to even try and take food away from Seto, but Mokuba was his younger brother and they probably had some kind of unspoken agreement between them.

"Was it nice cake, Mokuba?" Seto asked as Mokuba licked his spoon clean. 'Maybe Seto did want his pudding then?' Joey thought with a grin.

"Yes, did you want some?" Mokuba replied with a smile, a smear of chocolate on his cheek.

"I would have liked to try some," Seto told him as he used his napkin to wipe the chocolate off Mokuba's cheek. Joey glanced at his own chocolate cake, he'd been eating slower today, trying to show that he could use table manners. He had a small bit left and decided he might as well offer it to Seto.

"You can finish off mine if you want, Seto."

"Don't worry about it, Joey," Seto replied with a shake of his head.

"Suit yourself. It's very nice."

--

Joey was thankful for the small trolley they had to transport the boxes of files. It could only fit about four boxes on at a time, and you needed someone on either side of the trolley to make sure the boxes didn't fall off when you were moving it, but it was far easier than carrying the boxes down by hand. The four of them were taking up most of the space in the lift and the few other people who tried to get in were huddled together in one corner. Eventually the lift stopped at their floor, in the basement. The passageway was well lit and ventilated.

"It's cold," Kari said quietly as she shivered. Mokuba pulled off his school jacket and put it over her shoulders. She blushed and Joey exchanged a knowing look with Sara. Those two were definitely going out, or at least had a crush on each other. They walked along the corridor until they reached a door that looked identical to all the other doors. The only difference was the reference code on the plaque next to the handle. Sara turned the key in the lock and tried the handle.

"You need a key card as well," Mokuba commented.

"I've left mine upstairs. Wait here and I'll go and fetch it," Sara said with a sigh as she began walking towards the lift.

"Or we can just use mine," Mokuba said with a grin as he pulled out the locket Joey remembered seeing Mokuba with in Duelist Kingdom. Mokuba used the locket as a swipe card and typed in his access code on the keypad before opening the door.

"That's a sneaky trick, having your swipe card as that locket," Joey commented as he pulled the trolley into the storage room.

"It's a sneaky trick that has saved my neck on a few occasions," Mokuba replied, the seriousness in his voice catching everyone by surprise.

"What happened?" Kari asked.

"It's just when someone wants to get to my brother they usually use me to try and do it. The thing is when they realise I don't seem to have a key card they know that they'll have to keep me as a hostage to try and get my bother to agree to their demands."

"That must be really scary," Kari said, holding Mokuba in a hug.

"You get used to it," Mokuba replied with a shrug. Joey felt his mouth go dry at the thought that if someone found out he had a relationship with Seto he might become the number one target instead of Mokuba. The thought scared him, he'd had experience of a couple of Seto's enemies in the past and knew that Mokuba had been frequently kidnapped, he really didn't want to end up being their new target.

--

Seto leant back in his chair, a smile on his lips as he closed his eyes. Today was definitely an improvement on the rest of the week. He'd felt as if everything was falling down around him yesterday, wondering who would actually still be there for him by the end of the week; but this morning all that was turned round. Joey had kissed him. Joey had held him in a hug. Then Joey had opened his mouth and managed to still be sweet when insisting he must be taller than Seto now because he'd grown. Finding out that Joey was actually slightly taller than him didn't really bother Seto, but it had seemed to please the pup so Seto decided that he was pleased as well.

He opened his eyes and sat back up in his chair, deciding that adding this event to his record book would be a good idea. About to open the second draw down, where he usually kept it, he noticed that the draw was already slightly open. He frowned at it, sure he'd shut it when he finished updating the book yesterday, and remembered where Joey had been standing when he'd walked in this morning. Pulling the draw open he picked up the small black book and noticed the ribbon bookmark had been taken out from between the pages.

'He was probably just looking for proof that me and Tsume were together,' Seto tried to convince himself. 'It might not even have been Joey.'

Turning in his seat Seto clicked a few options on his computer screen and brought up the security tapes from this morning. He watched Joey enter his office, obviously in a bad mood.

'He must have been wanting to confront me,' Seto thought as he watched Joey become agitated when he saw that the office was empty. Sara arrived bringing some paperwork with her. She offered Joey a drink which the blond accepted and she left him alone in the office. Seto smiled as he noticed that Joey was bored and unsure what he should do to entertain himself. He wandered over to Seto's desk and looked at the paperwork. A smirk appeared on Seto's lips as he saw the look of obvious dislike on his pup's face. Joey glanced around the office before pulling open the first draw in his desk. That was uninteresting so the second draw was looked into. The small black book was pulled out and Joey looked through a few pages of Seto's notes before Sara returned with his hot chocolate. They barely had time to talk before Seto interrupted them.

'He was just bored, he didn't seem to know anything about Saturday so I guess Mokuba hasn't arranged anything, thank goodness. I might just get my lie in for once.'

--

Seto had hoped he'd get some more time alone with Joey, but they were now in the car on the way to Georgie's house and Seto had come to the conclusion that there was no hope left. Joey had offered to help out when Mokuba explained to him, Kari and Sara that Georgie was going back to England on Sunday, so him and Seto were helping them pack everything into cardboard boxes.

Seto pulled up in his usual parking place opposite Georgie's house and stopped the car. Mokuba was out of his seat like a shot, announcing that he was going to tell Georgie all about how Seto and Joey had finally got together. Joey jumped out the car too in an effort to stop Mokuba before he reached the door to the house, while Seto and Kari watched the entertaining sight from the car. Seto knew there was no point in trying to stop his younger brother once he had decided something, but Joey obviously didn't know that yet.

"Shall we leave them running around the street and go and knock on the door?" Seto asked Kari. She smiled slightly and nodded, opening her car door. Seto walked up the garden path, with Kari following him, and knocked on the door. As he heard the dogs barking he turned to look at how Mokuba was dodging between the parked cars whilst Joey chased him. Both were laughing as they did so, which made Seto smile. He was glad that Joey and Mokuba were happy putting up with each other as he was hoping that Joey would be spending a lot of time with the two of them in the future.

"Hello?" Georgie asked as she opened the door, letting the two dogs out in the process. Millie immediately jumped up at Seto in a greeting, before running off to find Mokuba.

"Hi Georgie, can we come in?"

"Of course," she said stepping aside so that Seto and Kari could step into the hallway. "I'll just get the dogs in." Georgie stopped as she saw Joey was standing with Mokuba, stroking Millie as she sat between them, obviously loving the attention. "You're in charge of that mutt though, Seto, I don't think he'll come to my whistle."

"Probably not," Seto agreed with a grin.

"Mokuba, Joey, can you bring Millie in? I don't want her getting used to sitting on the road. Brandy you come in, too." Georgie stood aside as the older border collie walked in from the front garden. Kari stroked her as Brandy sat down in front of her.

"Come on, Millie," Mokuba was saying as him and Joey stepped into the hallway, followed by the excitable labrador. The hallway was now getting as bit crowded and Seto was glad when Georgie suggested they all go into the living room to start doing more packing in there.

Seto wasn't surprised when he saw Kay sat next to Georgie's mum packing books into boxes. When Kay saw Joey standing next to Seto her grin became a suggestive smirk.

"Mum, this is Joey and, sorry I didn't get your name," Georgie said, turning to Kari.

"I'm Kari."

"It's nice to meet you," Georgie's mum said as she stood up to shake hands with them both, "and it's really nice to see you two back again to help out," she added as she gave Mokuba a hug, then Seto. Joey almost laughed as he saw Seto let himself be hugged, the only thing that stopped him laughing was the glare he received.

"We've got all the DVDs packed up now, and were starting on the books," Kay told them as Georgie's mum finished greeting everyone.

Georgie's mum said something in English to Seto, who replied asking some sort of question. The reply made both Georgie and Seto blush and refuse to make eye contact as Georgie turned to Kay.

"Have you been telling my mum the rumours about me and Seto?" Georgie asked, angrily.

"Maybe, I made sure to tell her they weren't true," Kay insisted. "Why?"

"It was a perfectly innocent statement," Georgie's mum commented. "You two just took it to mean something different."

"Of course you did," Georgie answered back, before turning to Seto. "Sorry about that, I think my mum is just dirty minded and still hoping that I'm just going through a phase."

"It's fine. Joey we've been designated to taking apart the furniture upstairs."

--

"What did she say?" Joey asked as he followed Seto upstairs.

"She said that she thought that taking apart the furniture in the unused upstairs bedrooms was a good job to give to the two nice young men who were offering to help. I asked which rooms upstairs weren't used and she asked what Georgie was playing at by not taking me upstairs to her bedroom." Seto had a blush on his cheeks as he finished talking.

"Well I'll have to make up for what Georgie failed to do then," Joey said as him and Seto stopped in the first unused bedroom. Seto's blush deepened as Joey smirked as he ran his hand gently across Seto's cheek. It was amazingly soft to touch and Joey wondered about the lack of stubble. 'He must have shaved earlier,' Joey thought.

"You will, but later on. We need to start taking this stuff apart so that it can be taken back to England."

--

Joey smiled as he watched Seto bend over a box to put stuff in it. Packing with Seto was fun, especially as he got a good show after Georgie had taken Seto's coat and both boys' jackets. It was nice to think that he was allowed to admit to staring now.

"Joey, could you stop staring at Seto for a moment and answer the question?" Georgie asked.

"Sorry, what was the question?"

"She asked if you wanted a drink," Seto told him as he stood up. "I wouldn't mind a coffee."

"Hot chocolate, please."

"Ok. The others are taking a break in the living room if you want to go down and I'll bring your drinks in when I've made them."

"A break sounds great," Joey said as he jumped up from where he'd been sat on the floor. Georgie sighed as she left the room, obviously able to tell that Joey hadn't done much packing to take a break from.

"Let's go downstairs then, if you can manage that without me distracting you again."

"I'm sure you do it on purpose. It's just the kind of thing I can imagine you doing, distracting me with your looks whilst I forget what I'm meant to be doing."

"You shouldn't let yourself get distracted," Seto told him as they stepped into the living room. The only seats available were on the sofa, next to Kay. Joey got there first and sat at the opposite end so that Seto had to sit between the two of them, or so Joey thought. Seto actually chose to sit on Joey's lap, much to the amusement of Kay.

"You two look so sweet together," she told them, with a smile. Joey smiled back, hugging Seto to himself, he glanced around the room before noticing a slight glare from Mokuba. It was only there for a second before it disappeared but Joey was certain he saw it. He was prevented from letting his thoughts dwell on it by Georgie handing him the hot chocolate and Seto wriggling to allow them both to drink without spilling their drinks.

--

Seto was feeling ready for bed. It had been a long day and he was incredibly tired. Just as he was about to open his bedroom door he heard someone behind him.

"Seto?"

"Yes, Kari? Is everything ok?"

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about Mokuba."

"What about him?" Seto felt a bit cautious, he didn't really want to know about what her and Mokuba did together, but at the same time if something was genuinely wrong with his little brother he wanted to be told immediately.

"It's just he's worried about loosing you."

"What do you mean?" Seto asked, however his mind was already coming to a rather obvious conclusion.

"He doesn't want Joey to take his place. When you walked Joey to his door when we dropped him off Mokuba was really upset that you're going to start spending all your free time with Joey now instead of him. I just thought you should know." Kari looked hesitant as she spoke, almost as if she wasn't sure she should be saying this. 'Mokuba probably made her promise not to tell me,' Seto thought.

"Thank you for telling me," he noticed she still looked uneasy and added. "You did the right thing." That brought a slight smile back to her face and she turned to go back to her room. Seto turned to look at Mokuba's bedroom door. It was shut, but Seto still heard the muffled sobbing as he walked towards it. He turned the handle and pushed it open as softly as he could.

"Mokuba?" he asked quietly as he walked over to the bed. Mokuba was lying under the covers, shaking slightly as he cried. Seto sat down on the edge of the bed and placed a hand on Mokuba's shoulder to try and comfort him a bit. As the sobbing subsided slightly Mokuba moved so that he could climb into Seto's lap. Seto hugged Mokuba and waited for the crying to end.

"I'm here, it's ok," Seto whispered to him as he kissed the top of Mokuba's head to try and reassure him.

"You won't always be here, though," Mokuba managed to snivel.

"I'll always be just one phone call away, or just across the hallway. I'm never going to leave you, Mokie."

"Sure you will, you'll be out with Joey all the time, and not want to see me or spend time with me."

"That's rubbish. I'll always want to see you, and I'm going to want you to be around to stop me strangling the irritating mutt." Seto heard a slight laugh as Mokuba probably realised that he wasn't joking about the strangling. "You come first, Mokie, and you always will; my pup's just going to have to deal with that."

"Thanks big brother. I'm really glad you and Joey sorted things out between you, but…" Mokuba buried his face in Seto's chest not wanting to continue.

"I understand, don't worry about it."

--

Joey stared up at his ceiling. He'd said goodbye to Seto at the doorway, wanting to invite him in but knowing Mokuba and Kari were waiting in the car. The kiss had been brief. He'd lent forward and captured Seto's lips with his own as he ran his hand over that incredibly soft skin of Seto's cheek. After they pulled apart the doubts had begun. Seto had smiled that breath taking smile of his and said he ought to get going but that he would pick Joey up in the morning to go to the airport. Joey had looked confused and Seto had reminded him that they were going to see Pegasus tomorrow for the meeting about the contract.

The first doubt had just been about whether Seto's smile was genuine. Joey had always known that Seto could control the appearance of his emotions so a smile wouldn't be too hard for Seto to fake. That doubt led to thoughts on how genuine this whole relationship might be on Seto's part.

'How well do I actually know him?' Joey thought. 'Not as well as I'd like to. I'm sure there's loads of things he's keeping secret from me. He might really think that I am an immature mutt.'

Then there was Mokuba's glare. What was that about? Georgie had suggested sometime earlier in the week that Mokuba was just coming to terms with Seto being gay, so maybe it was to do with that.

'I don't know if I can cope with being hated by Mokuba,' Joey thought solemnly.

The last doubt went back to Mokuba's comment about being used to being taken hostage.

'He always tried everything to get Mokuba back, but how do I know he would do the same if I was taken. Am I as important to him as his company?'

--

--

Heva: I hope you are all still enjoying this and feel like reviewing to tell me what you think.

Date: 03/10/08


	10. Friday last day of work experience

Friday – Last day of work experience

--

Coel: So you stuck to updating on Fridays then?

Heva: Yep, it's a good system that I ain't planning on breaking.

Coel: -shrugs- fair enough. So are you in a good mood?

Heva: I am in an amazingly good mood considering everything that keeps going wrong. I had a terrible Wednesday but when I got up on Thursday I found out that loads of people who I didn't expect to even remember my existence had sent me letters/emails/comments saying happy birthday which made me feel so much better and I've been in a good mood since. Even my doctor putting me on medication again didn't dampen my mood so here is the next chapter for all of you wonderful people who are following this story. I hope you enjoy it.

--

--

Friday – Last day of work experience

--

Seto woke when his alarm clock went off. He quickly switched it off so that he wouldn't disturb Mokuba and Kari. The time was five o clock, too early even for Seto to get up. He groaned and managed to persuade himself to move out from under the warmth of the covers. Getting dressed as fast as his body would allow when he was still asleep he hurried to get downstairs to make himself a cup of coffee. It was too early for him to really eat breakfast so he decided to go back upstairs to leave Mokuba a note telling him to enjoy himself today and that he would be back later in the day.

After writing the note Seto opened Mokuba's bedroom door as quietly as he could and slipped inside the room. The light from the hallway illuminated enough of the room for him to creep over to Mokuba's bedside table and place it on top of the alarm clock. As Seto turned to leave he heard a sleepy sigh and glanced over at the bed. He peered through the gloom and noticed the red hair. Seto crossed his arms, wondering whether to wake them up and ask what they thought they were doing. He concluded it wasn't worth it as it would just result in Mokuba getting annoyed with him again. Turning back towards the doorway Seto decided that he'd just have a word with Mokuba about this later on.

Wandering back downstairs Seto decided that he ought to leave so that he could wake up Joey. There was no doubt in his mind that the pup would sleep through his alarm and Seto would need to wake him up.

--

Joey was sleeping peacefully when the knocking on the door woke him up. It was loud and insistent. Groaning Joey tried to ignore it and the knocking stopped, replaced by muffled voices which also vanished after less than a minute. This was surprising as whoever it was had seemed determined to be let in. The click and sound of the door opening made all thoughts of sleep leave his mind. Someone had just broken into the apartment. He decided that pretending to still be asleep was his safest option, for all he knew they might be armed and he didn't particularly want to die. Lying back down and closing his eyes, as he heard footsteps walking into the apartment, Joey hoped that the robber would realise that there was nothing of value and leave. The footsteps stopped outside his room and Joey was certain that the person was standing in his doorway.

"I'm sorry about giving you a scare, but I wasn't getting any reply from you. I had one of your neighbours yell at me though."

"How'd you get in?" Joey asked, opening his eyes as he recognised Seto's voice.

"Your lock isn't that hard to pick," Seto said with a shrug. Joey sat up to try and convince himself that this wasn't some strange dream he was having. The cold air that greeted his now exposed arms was real enough.

"You know how to pick a lock?" Joey asked, feeling his doubts that getting involved with Seto when he hardly knew him wasn't a good idea come back from last night.

"I learnt how when I was younger. I do like your pyjamas."

"What's the time?"

"Just before six." Joey just stared at him in shock.

"I'm going back to sleep," Joey told him as he lay down again and dragged the covers back around himself. Seto smiled.

"I thought you might say that. Could I get something to eat and I'll wake you up again in half an hour?"

"If you get yourself something to eat, get me something as well and you can come and eat in here. I'm not having you wander around the apartment getting bored."

"That's fine. What do you want?"

"Whatever you choose. The cereals are in the cupboard over the sink."

--

Joey was sure he should go and check on what Seto was up to, but he didn't want to get out of bed and have to take responsibility for whatever mess Seto had made of the kitchen. He'd remembered, after Seto left the room, that he still hadn't cleaned up the cereal and milk that he spilt yesterday. An aroma reached Joey's nose as he finally decided that checking on Seto was important enough to make him move.

'He's cooking?' Joey thought. 'Maybe I will wait here and have breakfast in bed.' A smile spread across his face as he snuggled back into his duvet. It wasn't long before Seto came back in carrying two plates of food.

"I hope you like scrambled egg on toast. I would have done bacon as well but I couldn't find any in your kitchen." Seto handed a plate over to Joey and placed the second on Joey's desk. "I'll just go and grab some knives and forks to eat with." Seto returned a moment later carrying two mugs of brown liquids and some cutlery for them both.

"I didn't know you could cook."

"Not many people do know. I used to help out in the kitchens at the orphanage so I learnt the basics there."

"Seto?"

"Yes, Joey?"

"I was thinking last night that I really don't know much about you."

"Well, what do you want to know?" Joey looked over at Seto, who'd sat at the end of his bed with the plate balanced on his lap. He had no idea where to start with what he wanted to ask.

"Um, what do you usually do on halloween?" Joey couldn't think what else to ask right then. Halloween was next Friday and Yuugi was planning a costume party that Joey still needed to get an outfit for, maybe Seto could help him choose one. Maybe he could persuade Seto to get a nice costume as well, one that would show off some of that gorgeous pale skin that Joey just knew would be as soft as Seto's cheek.

"For the last few years Mokuba has had his friends round for a sleep over and we put decorations up over part of the house. I usually hide in my office and avoid them. What do you usually do?"

"Go out to a party. Yuugi's having one next Friday, I'm sure you can come if you want to."

"Unless you really want me there I think I'll give it a miss," Seto replied with a slight smile. He moved his plate slightly so that it was on his knees and Joey grinned as he noticed why. That had to be because of him, but Joey wanted to finish his breakfast before he did anything about it. Seto was definitely a good cook.

"Who was your first kiss?" Joey asked, loving the way he saw Seto's cheeks darkened with a blush.

"A girl named Clarissa, who I truly hate. Who was yours?"

"Miho, I was trying to annoy Tristan and I knew he had a crush on her so I decided to flirt with her. If you hate this girl, why did you kiss her?"

"I never said I kissed her. She kissed me, and I've just lost my appetite. Do you want to finish this for me?"

"I never refuse food," Joey said with a grin as he took Seto's plate.

"Clarissa is the daughter of one of the people Gozaburo was doing business with, and me and Clarissa were forced to spend time together. It was more or less an arranged relationship and she did what her daddy told her so things progressed. I hope I don't have to spell it out for you, pup."

"Is it the same for all the other people you've slept with?" Joey asked as he finished his own plate and started on Seto's left over food.

"That Gozaburo arranged it? No. That there was an ulterior motive?" Seto went silent and looked away from Joey. "Yes," he said quietly. Joey wasn't really sure what to make of the answer, Seto sounded ashamed but Joey didn't know whether that was put on as he had some ulterior motive with Joey. He couldn't cope with this feeling at goodness knows what time in the morning. 'What if he's not being honest with me and is making stuff up to try and make it sound like I'm special to him?'

"Even Tau?"

"I needed someone to help me after I finally managed to get control of Kaiba Corp. Tau realised he could get a foothold in the company so we used each other. Both of us have changed a lot since then, Tau's even engaged to Sara now." Seto still wasn't looking at Joey. He had turned his head to look at the floor and Joey could see the side of his face if he shifted slightly.

"Am I …?" Joey didn't know how to finish the sentence. 'Am I just another one to you? Am I just the next conquest? Am I to do with some kind of messed up business deal? Am I … special?'

"You're the first," Joey heard whispered. It was so quiet that he nearly missed it, and it sounded honest. He wasn't sure what to make of this turn of events. Yesterday he was certain that Seto had people fawning over him and that Seto said 'yes' to dating some of then. Now he was convinced that Seto had said 'no' to everyone he couldn't gain something from … until Joey. He thought Joey was special in some way. There was nothing obvious that Seto could gain from him. Joey didn't have connections, money or power. The only thing Seto could gain was a foothold in Joey's friendship group which Seto could get anyway by being a bit nicer to everyone.

Joey put both plates on his bedside table and leaned over to kiss Seto's cheek. It was still as soft as Joey remembered it being yesterday. He wasn't sure why he didn't keep his mouth shut, but it made Seto laugh.

"Do you shave?" Joey asked making Seto turn his head to look at Joey and try to stifle a rather feminine giggle.

"Yes, unlike what you seem to do, pup."

"Well, dogs don't shave, Seto."

"That much is obvious, but they do have cute pyjamas apparently." Seto pulled the duvet down so that he could give Joey a good look over.

"As much as like being stared at by you, it's really cold so give me back my duvet or come over here and be a hot water bottle," Joey complained. Seto smiled and moved so that he was sat next to Joey on the bed. Joey immediately grabbed him and pulled Seto into his lap so that he could pull him as close as possible. Seto was a surprisingly good hot water bottle, even though he wriggled in Joey's grip.

"As nice as this is, Joey, you need to get ready so we can leave soon."

"Stupid work experience, forcing me to get up early," Joey muttered as he held Seto a bit tighter to stop him getting up.

"Time to get up, Joey."

"In a minute."

"No, now," Seto replied, managing to wriggle enough to loosen Joey's hold on him. Much to Joey's annoyance this allowed Seto to stand up. The look Seto gave him reminded Joey of how his mum used to look at him when he refused to get up and ready for school. Joey couldn't help it, he started laughing. Seto's look changed to one of confusion as Joey fought to get his laughter under control.

"You act like someone's mother, Seto," Joey managed to say eventually.

"Mokuba's always saying that. He started calling me his soccer mum last year." Joey looked puzzled, not understanding the phrase. "It doesn't translate that well to Japanese. It's basically used to describe a single, working mother who somehow manages to balance her job and looking after her kid by taking him to clubs, such as soccer practice."

"Seems to describe you pretty well, then," Joey said with a grin as he stood up and began sorting through his clothes.

"I was hoping that I wasn't single anymore." Joey turned to look at Seto and grinned. He closed the distance between them and pressed there lips together. Poking Seto's lips with his tongue caused Seto to part them and allow Joey entrance. The coffee taste wasn't as bad as he'd been expecting it to be. Seto moved his own tongue against Joey's, but it was still obvious that he wasn't trying to take control. They eventually parted, both breathing heavily.

"I think that's a good enough answer for you," Joey panted as he leaned his forehead against Seto's.

"It'll do," Seto replied with a grin. Joey smiled back before moving back to his previous task of finding his clothes for today.

"Do these go together?" he asked, holding up a shirt and trousers.

"As far as I can tell."

"I thought you were a soccer mum, therefore with that female mind of yours you should be able to tell what clothes go with what."

"It's nice to know that you have so much faith in my ability to pick out clothes but I'm absolutely useless at it."

"Oh well, you can't be good at everything. I'm going to go and have a shower. The TV's in the living room."

--

Seto wasn't surprised to find out that Joey only had the basic handful of channels on his TV, and made a mental note to get Mokuba to show Joey their TV in the games room. It had been Seto's gift to Mokuba for his birthday last year and since then barely a day had gone by without Mokuba watching the screen for at least ten minutes. Putting on a news channel Seto leant back into the sofa. It was only a few minutes before he got bored with it after seeing the same lady interviewer who had been hitting on him. He pulled a face at the memory of her hand on his knee before she tried to lean over and kiss him.

The sound of the shower being switched on made Seto's head turn slightly. He wouldn't be a pervert and try to get a look at Joey, however tempting it was. Looking around after switching off the TV he noticed a pile of duel monsters magazines. Picking up the top one he decided that he might as well read them whilst he was waiting. He recognised this edition as the one with his interview about the new duel disk in it.

The phone started ringing and Joey yelled for Seto to get it as he'd be out in a minute. 'Who rings at just after seven in the morning?' Seto thought as he stood up and went to the hallway where the ringing sound was coming from. He picked up the handset, noticing it was a corded phone so Joey would have to leave the bathroom to come and speak to whoever it was.

"Hello?"

"Hi, it's Yuugi, is Joey there?"

"I'll just go and see if he's available." Seto held the phone away from his ear as he called to Joey. "It's Yuugi for you."

"Ask him what he's ringing about, but be polite," Joey called back as he tried to find a towel to wrap around his waist that would allow him to push Seto around without worrying about it falling off.

"He's just coming," Seto told Yuugi as he brought the receiver back to his ear. "What do you want to talk to him about?"

"I was ringing to ask him how his work experience is going and see if he wants to come to the arcade tomorrow." Yuugi sounded quite cheerful and Seto wondered if Yuugi knew who he was talking to. It was quite possible that he'd recognised Seto's voice, but there was no indication. At that moment Joey left the bathroom, a large, fluffy, light green towel around his waist. He took the phone out of Seto's hand when he offered it and brought it up to his ear, making sure to hold the towel in place with his free hand.

"Hi Yuugi. How've you been?"

"Fine. How's your work experience been? I hope you and Kaiba haven't killed each other."

"Nah. It's in my contract not to kill him," Joey said with a grin at Seto. Seto was leaning back against the wall opposite Joey, not bothering to hide the fact that he was checking Joey out.

"That's a disappointment. Do you want to come to the arcade tomorrow?" Joey paused, he'd been planning to ask Seto to go out for lunch or to see a movie with him tomorrow.

"Can you hang on a moment, Yuugi?"

"Sure."

"Seto?" Joey asked, turning to fully face the CEO. Seto nodded to show he was listening. "I was wondering if you wanted to catch a movie with me or something tomorrow? Maybe go out for lunch together?"

"I'm having lunch with Mokuba tomorrow and I promised to spend the afternoon with him as well, but I can take you out for dinner if you want."

"Sounds great," Joey said with a grin. He brought the phone back up to his ear. "What time were you planning to go to the arcade?"

"About one o clock, after lunch."

"I'll meet you there, but I may have to leave early."

"Why?" Yuugi asked, it was unusual for Joey to have plans on a Saturday that didn't involve his friends.

"I've got a date," Joey replied with a grin.

"Anyone I know?" Yuugi asked, excited by the news. He always loved hearing about his friends' lives, although he'd never admit to liking gossip.

"Yes, do you want me to put him back on the phone?" Joey asked, laughing at the glare he received from Seto at the suggestion.

"I didn't recognise the voice," Yuugi admitted, Joey was surprised by the lack of reaction to him just admitting it was a guy he was dating. 'Yuugi must have already realised I was gay,' he thought. It wouldn't be that surprising, both Yuugi and Tristan knew him well enough to have probably worked it out by now.

"He does sound different on the phone, I suppose," Joey admitted. "Do you want to tell him who you are, or shall I?" he asked Seto.

"Someone tell me," Yuugi decided to add loudly. He received a yell to be quieter from his grandpa who was still trying to sleep.

Seto leaned forward so that his voice would be picked up by the phone.

"You tell him, pup."

"It's Kaiba!" Yuugi yelled, sounding really happy by this, despite the yells to be quiet from upstairs. 'He definitely knew,' Joey thought. "Can I tell the others when I ring them to ask if they want to meet up tomorrow?"

"I'd rather tell them myself," Joey replied. Yuugi would probably let it slip anyway, but Joey hoped he'd get a chance to tell Tristan himself. His best friend deserved to be told instead of having to hear it from an excitable Yuugi.

"Ok, I'll try and keep it quiet. Congratulations to you both! Bye," Yuugi said happily.

"Bye, Yuugi." Joey replaced the phone on the table as he turned to look at Seto who was still shamelessly looking him over. "Enjoying what you see?"

"Yes. Your towel's slipping." Joey's hands flew to the top of the towel to pull it back up and try to tighten it around his waist.

"This is incredibly unfair. I've been standing here in a towel with you getting to marvel at my gorgeous body. Whilst I haven't even seen you without a shirt."

"That's life," Seto replied with a grin.

"Loose the shirt, Seto," Joey said, hoping Seto would but doubting that there was any chance he would.

"Only if you loose the towel."

"Although I do like that very nice smart shirt, the pale purple really suits you, I think you would look a lot better without."

"The same goes for that fluffy, pink towel," Seto replied, folding his arms. Joey frowned, the towel was clearly green not pink.

"You're colour blind, aren't you, Seto?"

"I can't tell the difference between red and green, so I'm assuming that the towel is green then." Seto's voice had lost its usual confidence as he spoke, his gaze falling to the ground.

"Yeah, do you want to wait in the living room while I get dressed?"

"Ok."

'Well that's something I never expected,' Joey thought as he went back into the bathroom. 'The world must look so strange to him. I wonder how many other people know about this. He probably thinks it's a weakness so he wouldn't tell many people. I must be special to him if he's willing to let me know about his colour blindness, and willing to let Yuugi know about us getting together. He knows that if Yuugi gets told then he'll let it slip somehow and the press will find out about us. I don't think I want the press to know, but if Seto doesn't mind the press finding out he must care about me.'

--

Joey liked the private jet. Seto decided he didn't like having Joey in the jet because he fiddled with everything. It was like having a little child that was high on sugar with him. Joey couldn't sit still.

"Just leave it alone," Seto hissed as Joey found out how to lean his seat back. Seto had his laptop out on his lap and was looking through the electronic version of the contract, but his attention was mostly focused on the blond sat next to him.

"You're no fun, Seto," Joey whined, loud enough for everyone else to hear. Seto was certain he heard Tau sniggering and this suspicion was backed up by Sara elbowing Tau in the ribs. Sara had a slight grin on her face as well, making Seto realise that they both probably knew about him and Joey. The other employees who were sitting with them had managed to keep straight faces despite the blond's constant attempts to make Seto get fed up with him.

"Have you got any games on your laptop?" Joey asked as he leaned across to peer at the screen.

"No."

"Not even solitaire? I thought laptops came with that built in?"

"It's my work laptop, Joey, I deleted the games," Seto said calmly, attempting to ignore the way Joey had put a hand on his upper thigh to try and prevent himself from falling over.

"That's so boring," Joey complained sitting back upright looking bored.

"I think I've still got Mokuba's PSP in my briefcase if you want to play with that," Seto said as he reached for the briefcase that was sat at his feet.

"Thanks, Seto," Joey said with a grin as he took the offered toy. He leaned across again and gave Seto a kiss on the cheek, causing a blush to stain the CEO's face. 'This is going to be spread around the entire office by the end of today,' Seto thought. 'I'm going to have Raquel yelling at me again about what I think I'm doing by not telling her in advance so that she can prepare what to tell the journalists.'

--

"That meeting was so deathly boring," Joey complained as they sat in Seto's car.

"I think everyone knew you found it boring," Seto replied as he had to stop at the traffic lights. It had been a long day, made longer by having the pup with him. Joey had fallen asleep in the meeting and Seto had ended up poking him to try and keep him awake from then on. This had worked until Joey had decided to poke him back. Seto had been listening rather intently to what was being said when Joey poked him, causing him to jump in surprise. He'd been glad that no one, apart from a snickering Joey, noticed. This had been followed by kicking each other under the table. Pegasus put a stop to that by making a comment about how Kaiba-boy and his rival seemed to be tolerating each other's company ever so well.

"Sorry about that," Joey muttered, glancing out the car window as they drove past various lit up shops. It was raining and people were running around with either raincoats pulled tightly around themselves or umbrellas. A group of people were currently crossing the road ahead wearing bright red raincoats. Joey was reminded of the discovery he'd made this morning about Seto.

"Is it red or green that you can't see?" Joey asked, watching the group finish crossing the road and Seto moved the car forwards again.

"I don't know, why?"

"Just curious. It seems weird to think that you can't tell the difference between red and green. I mean to you grass is red which is just wrong."

"It seems normal to me."

"What causes colour blindness?" Joey asked as he turned his head to look at Seto. The shop lights illuminated his face a variety of colours as hey passed them.

"I'm not sure how to explain it really. There's two types of sensors in your eyes; one for night vision which is just in black and white, and one for colour vision. I think colour blindness is caused by a malfunction in the colour sensors, certain cells in my eyes don't work or are missing. I've never really bothered to find out about it."

"Sounds complicated," Joey muttered as he turned to look out the windscreen again. He frowned as he saw someone up ahead thumbing for a lift. 'I recognise that face, but I can't remember where from,' Joey thought as they approached the figure. He was surprised as he heard Seto put the indicator on to pull over by the hitchhiker.

"Can you undo the window, Joey?" Seto asked as they pulled to a standstill. Joey pressed the switch to roll down the window as the hitchhiker leant down to see who had offered them the lift.

"SKF?" the figure asked in surprise.

"Hi, Toboe. Where are you wanting a lift to?" Seto asked as another car passed them, illuminating the car and Toboe's face. 'Please don't let him recognise me,' Joey thought as he realised where he recognised the pizza delivery boy from.

"I'm trying to get back to our apartment. You wouldn't happen to be going anywhere near there would you?"

"Actually I am. Jump in," Seto said with a smile. Toboe grinned back at him and pulled open the back door so he could slide into the seat behind Joey.

"Thanks so much for this, Seto."

"Don't mention it. What have you been up to since I last saw you, Tsume said you were working as a delivery boy?" Seto asked as he pulled out into the road again. Joey remained silent, hoping that Toboe either wouldn't recognise him or would have forgotten about it.

"Yeah, I'm working for a local pizza company. I got let off early tonight so I decided to go into town for a while. Then it started raining and I realised that I'd be home quicker if I hitchhiked."

"You already look drenched so I guess you've been out there for a while," Seto commented glancing over at Joey. 'He's being extremely quiet. I wonder what's wrong,' Seto thought.

"Nah, not that long." The car fell silent as Toboe watched the lights of the shop fronts go past the windows. Seto's worry about the blond increased. 'He never likes silence, so why's he being so quiet?'

"Sorry I didn't introduce you two. Joey, this is Toboe. He's Tsume's younger brother. Toboe, this is Joey, my boyfriend."

"Hi Joey, it's nice to meet you," Toboe said as he leaned forwards to get a look at Joey's face.

"It's nice to meet you too," Joey replied as he turned to face Toboe. There was a look of recognition that passed across Toboe's face, before a smirk spread across his features.

"You've got good taste, Seto. He's cute," Toboe said before mouthing to Joey, 'I won't say anything.' Joey smiled back, glad Toboe wouldn't tell Seto.

"Thanks," Seto replied as they turned off the main road towards the apartment block.

--

"I'm sorry about making you put up with Toboe. I didn't think it would make you uncomfortable," Seto apologised as they stood outside Joey's apartment.

"Don't worry about it, Seto. I just feel like I hardly know you sometimes, and when you stopped to pick him up …" Joey wasn't sure what else to say. He hoped that Seto would come to his own conclusion. It was a true admission that he felt he hardly knew Seto but it had been the fact that he recognised Toboe that had made him uncomfortable in the car.

"Well you can interrogate me as much as you want tomorrow night," Seto replied with a smile.

"Thanks. Do you want to come in for a coffee?" Joey asked. He almost cursed as he realised how much it sounded like a line from a soppy romance novel.

"I never say no to coffee," Seto replied with a grin. Joey smiled back before turning to unlock the door. As the door swung open Joey noticed his dad's shoes beside the mat. He stepped inside and heard Seto enter behind him.

"Dad, are you home?" he called as he walked further into the apartment. He heard Seto pause by the front door. Joey turned to look at him, noticing the uncertainty in Seto's stance.

"I'm in the kitchen. You won't believe the week I've had, I'm thinking of quitting. Did you keep your promise?" came his dad's voice from the kitchen.

"Yes, I did, so be nice." Joey took a step towards Seto, fully prepared to drag him through to the kitchen if necessary. "It's just my dad, he's harmless," Joey reassured, noticing the slight adjustment Seto immediately made to his composure as he realised Joey had spotted his unease. Seto didn't say anything as he followed Joey into the kitchen, where Joey's dad sat at the table, eating toast as he read a news paper. He made it look as if it should be breakfast time instead of past seven at night.

"Dad, this is Seto. Seto, this is my dad," Joey introduced them as Seto stepped in through the doorway.

"Hello, Seto," Joey's dad said as he stood up from the table and shook Seto's hand.

"Hello," Seto replied. Joey was quite amazed to watch the exchange. Seto was always so confident around business people, at school and in tournaments in front of millions of people; but in this small kitchen when he was being introduced to Joey's dad Seto looked like he wanted to run and hide.

"I was going to make some coffee and some hot chocolate, is there anything you want dad?" Joey asked as he moved over to the sink to fill the kettle with water.

"I'll have a coffee." Joey glanced over to see Seto still stood at the doorway looking uncomfortable.

"Sit down, Seto," Joey said firmly. He wasn't sure how to treat this new, more vulnerable side of Seto. It was nice to feel as though Seto needed someone around to defend him, and Joey had been given the chance to do that, but Joey didn't want Seto to feel uncomfortable around his dad.

"I understand that you're a very successful businessman," Joey's dad said, attempting to start a conversation with Seto.

"I run a company, what do you do?" Seto asked; that was a subject he could probably talk about comfortably.

"I'm working with a military contractor. We supply defence weaponry to various military organisations."

"Oh, sounds unusual," Seto replied. 'How do I change the subject?' he thought desperately, 'I really don't want to think about this again now.'

"It's not very interesting, really. How was your work experience, Joey? I hope he wasn't too distracting for you?"

"It was really great," Joey told his dad as he handed Seto his coffee. Seto was glad for the mug to hold to prevent himself showing his unease at the situation. Joey's warmth as he sat down next to him was relaxing and comforting which helped the tension dissolve.

"I don't think he caused too much chaos in my company," Seto commented, his voice returning to its usual tone. Joey smiled to himself as he sipped his hot chocolate, feeling glad that he was responsible for Seto's confidence.

"I'm sure you found ways to keep him occupied," Joey's dad said with a suggestive smirk. Seto's cheeks went red with embarrassment as Joey put an arm across Seto's shoulders to pull him closer.

"Stop being mean, dad," Joey told him. "What me and Seto choose to do together is none of your business."

"I'm sorry for embarrassing you both. I'll leave you two alone and go and unpack. Have fun." Joey and Seto watched him leave.

"Sorry about my dad, he's always like that," Joey apologised as he rubbed Seto's arm.

"It's ok. I know I'm difficult to talk to anyway."

"That's true. What I want to know is what's upset you?"

"Nerves," Seto said quietly, almost as if he was ashamed. Joey frowned, not understanding what Seto meant. "Nervousness. I'm never sure how to act around people I want to like me."

"Just be the real you," Joey replied, putting his mug down on the table top next to Seto's.

"I ought to go, Mokuba will be wondering where I am," Seto said as he stood up. Joey stood up too and pulled Seto into a hug. The brunette hadn't been expecting it and stumbled making Joey grin as he held Seto against himself.

"You don't need to be nervous, Seto, I like you."

"Thank you, Joey."

"Don't mention it. What time and where do you want to meet tomorrow?"

"I'll pick you up from the arcade about five thirty, there's something I want to show you before we go to the restaurant."

"What?" Joey asked as he opened the front door for Seto.

"It's a surprise," Seto replied with a grin.

"I'm not sure I trust you and surprises."

"It's a good surprise. Oh and don't worry about looking scruffy tomorrow, I know you won't want to be dressed smartly at the arcade."

"I hadn't even considered being smart."

"That doesn't surprise me, pup," Seto replied.

"We're back to the dog names again," Joey said in fake annoyance as he pushed Seto into the wall by the front door.

"Well, they do suit you," Seto commented as Joey held him still before leaning over to capture his lips. Seto held still, not that Joey left him much choice, as they kissed. Joey managed to encourage Seto's tongue into his own mouth, having realised Seto wasn't certain about doing so. It was still quite incredible to Joey how submissive Seto was. The kiss ended and Joey smiled happily as he continued to hold Seto prisoner between himself and the wall.

"Being restrained suits you," Joey said with his smile turning into a suggestive smirk, "and that blush really suits you as well."

"I still need to get going, however much I want to stay here," Seto replied. Joey sighed and stepped back to let Seto stand up straight again.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Seto," Joey told him as he watched Seto turn to walk back to his car.

"Bye for now, pup." Joey smiled at the name, it felt nice to have a pet name. He turned and walked back inside the apartment to find his dad.

--

"How was your day?" Seto asked Mokuba as he sat on the sofa next to his younger brother in the games room.

"It was so much fun. We split into four teams and," Seto listened as his younger sibling described the obliteration of various parts of the garden by multicoloured paintballs. At least it sounded like Mokuba enjoyed himself, and the plants would grow again … eventually. The fish may not be so lucky but they hadn't been replaced from last time Mokuba and his friends were let loose on the garden. "How was your day with your boyfriend?"

"Joey is a nightmare. He's worse than you for playing around with stuff when he's bored. I ended up giving him your PSP to play with in the jet to try and keep him occupied."

"You love him really Seto," Mokuba said with a grin.

"I care about him, Mokuba, but he's hard work to entertain. I'm taking him out for diner tomorrow and I hope I can keep him amused for that long."

"Does he know?" Mokuba asked, noticing Seto wasn't sure what he was asking about he reworded the question. "Does he know why tomorrow's special?"

"I don't think so. You are going to let me have a lie in this year, aren't you?"

"Of course. I got given some stuff to give to you tomorrow from Georgie and I hope you don't mind dropping me off in town to meet Kari later on tomorrow."

"What time and where?"

"The cinema at six. We're watching a film together."

"Can you change that to the arcade at five thirty?" Seto asked.

"Sure," Mokuba stood up from the sofa and walked over to the door so he could go and find a phone to ring Kari. "Anything for my brother on his birthday."

--

"He seemed very nice," Joey's dad commented as they sat in the living room on the sofa.

"He is very nice. We're going to a restaurant tomorrow night, I don't know what time I'll be back."

"I won't wait up. Don't worry about being quiet if you bring him back home, I'll listen to some music."

"You promised you wouldn't make those kind of comments if I asked him out this week, and as you can tell we are dating now so stop making those comments."

"Ok, I'll stop it."

"I'm going to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

"Sleep well, I hope your bed doesn't seem too lonely with just you in it."

--

--

Heva: that's a surprisingly long chapter. By the way when I was re-reading it I realised that the bit with Joey's dad in the kitchen wasn't very clear. Seto is nervous because he associates Joey's dad with Gozaburo, and when he says that his work involves the military that's an even greater link making Seto very uncomfortable in the situation.

Coel: I think you underestimate your reader's ability to work things out, heva.

Heva: I was just explaining as I didn't think it was very obvious and people might think it was completely OOC for Seto to get nervous.

Coel: Fine. Please review and tell heva what you think of the story so far.

Heva: The next chapter should be up next Friday so have a great week.

--

Date: 10/10/08


	11. Saturday Seto's birthday

Saturday – 25th October

Heva: this chapter is the longest so far and I think it's my favourite of all the chapters I've written.

Coel: fair enough. I liked the chapter when they were at the shopping mall.

Heva: I have to thank melodyz07 again as she is still helping me to finish this story and the last section of this chapter was due to her comment about there needing to be something more at the end.

--

Saturday – 25th October

--

Seto was awoken by Mokuba landing on his bed.

"Go away," Seto complained as he put his hands over his head to try and block out his energetic sibling.

"Happy birthday, Seto!" Mokuba yelled happily as he bounced next to Seto. "I got you a present."

"I thought I told you I wanted a lie in as a present, so go away," Seto complained.

"You can have a lie in after you open my present," Mokuba promised as he continued bouncing.

"I'll open it later, let me try and go back to sleep."

"Not until you open my present."

"Fine," Seto said irritably as he sat up in bed. Mokuba handed him a small package, poorly wrapped in sparkly blue paper. Seto opened the present carefully, making sure he didn't tear the paper.

"Open it, just tear the paper, Seto," Mokuba complained as he continued bouncing. He knew Seto took forever just to annoy him, he did it at christmas as well. Seto eventually had the paper off to reveal two objects; a recipe book, Seto didn't miss the hint that the book was about cooking with chocolate, and a picture frame that was poorly carved with dragons. Mokuba had already put a picture of him and Seto from their summer holiday in the frame.

"Thank you very much Mokuba. I shall have to try some of these recipes out tomorrow, or maybe next week."

"Do you like the picture frame? Georgie's mum taught me how to carve stuff so I decided to make it for you."

"It's wonderful, Mokie. Right now though, I'm going back to sleep." Seto put the presents on his bedside table and snuggled back down into the covers. He felt the duvet get moved and Mokuba slid into the bed beside him.

"Sleep well, Seto," Mokuba said quietly.

"You too, Mokie," Seto replied.

--

Joey woke feeling refreshed and alert. The headache he'd had for the past week was finally gone and he no longer felt the lethargy from the flu. He sat up quickly and was washed and dressed in minutes. Walking into the kitchen he poured himself some cereal and wished Seto was there to make him breakfast again.

"You're up early," his dad said as he walked into the kitchen.

"I didn't feel like sleeping. Do you mind if I disappear off to Tristan's this morning?"

"That's fine, do what you want. Are you coming back here to get dressed to go out tonight?"

"Nah, Seto said he didn't expect me to be smart," Joey informed his dad as he sat down to eat his cornflakes.

"That doesn't mean you can't surprise him."

"I don't think he'll be smart so I'm not bothering."

"Fine, suit yourself. What else are you planning to do today?"

"I'm going to the arcade with Yuugi and the others. Before you ask no Seto isn't coming as well because he already has plans with his little brother today." Joey frowned as he remembered the page in the book he'd found in Seto's desk. He still didn't know what was special about today, or what the surprise Seto had planned was.

"I haven't made any comments this morning so I don't know why you're frowning at me."

"It's just something I'm not sure about. I know that there's something special about today, but I don't know what it is."

"I would assume that the special thing is you going out with your boyfriend."

"No. Seto had this date highlighted in his diary before we were going out."

"If he hasn't told you it won't be anything very important," Joey's dad reassured him. "Why don't you just stop worrying about it and enjoy today?"

"I suppose that's all I can do," Joey said in fake reluctance. He jumped up from the table and put his empty bowl in the sink to be washed up. "Have a good day, dad," Joey said as he hurried out of the room to get ready to go round Tristan's house.

--

"Tristan! Joey's here," Mrs Taylor yelled upstairs as Joey stood at the front door. "He hasn't even got up yet, but you can go and drag him out of bed if you want," she apologised to Joey before letting him step past the front door.

"Thanks," Joey replied before racing upstairs to find his friend. "Good morning," he said as he pushed open the door to find Tristan holding a pillow over his head to try and block out his mum's yelling.

"What are you doing here this early in the morning?" Tristan complained as he sat up.

"Am I not allowed to pop round to see my best friend?" Joey had a look of fake hurt on his face, which turned into a smile almost instantly as Tristan started laughing.

"Of course you're allowed, Joey. I just know you like to sleep in late whenever you can. What's with the being up before ten o clock? Did something happen?"

"After last week getting up at eight feels like a lie in and yes something did happen," Joey had sat on the end of the bed and looked like he was trying to resist bouncing on it in excitement. Tristan frowned at him, Joey was always excitable but what had happened to make him this happy?

"What?" Tristan asked as he watched Joey.

"I've got a date tonight with the most handsome CEO I've ever met, and he's taking me out to a restaurant this evening."

"Please tell me you aren't talking about Kaiba," Tristan said quietly.

"What's wrong?" Joey asked, noticing the change in Tristan's attitude. Yuugi had been so happy when he found out, but here was Joey's best friend looking as if Joey had just told him someone had died.

"You hate Kaiba! He's the most irritating, cold, manipulative bastard I've ever met!" Tristan said loudly, almost yelling it, as he looked at Joey like he'd gone mad.

"I know that's how he acts most of the time. If you'd seen him last week, like I'd have, you'd know the real him. The one that gets nervous when he's trying to make a good impression. The one that can actually make a joke, not a good one but he still tried. The one that cares about Mokuba and tries his hardest to look after him. The one that cares about his employees. The one that just likes to have someone there to hold him." Joey fell silent as he saw the way Tristan was looking at him.

"You really like him, don't you?" Tristan asked quietly. Joey nodded.

"Yeah, I don't know why really, he is seriously irritating but it's only through spending last week around people who really know him that I realised how little I know him. Did you know he was colour blind?"

"No, that must be what he was talking to Dr Rose about though." Joey frowned, not remembering this. "Kaiba ended up chatting with Dr Rose about something a couple of weeks back, when we were doing all those experiments to identify different compounds. I ended up working with him and I was so happy to leave that room once we were finished."

"I hadn't thought about how hard that must be for him," Joey said quietly.

"Oh well, you can be his partner in Chemistry now. Let's go out somewhere this morning before we meet the others at the arcade."

"That sounds great. Are you going to get dressed or go out like that?" Joey asked jokingly. Tristan threw a pillow at him before hurrying out the room to get ready in the bathroom complaining that Joey shouldn't be looking at other guys if he already had a boyfriend.

--

Yuugi looked up in surprise as he saw who'd just entered the shop.

"Hi, Yuug," Joey greeted.

"Hi. I'm meant to be watching the shop but I haven't had a customer all morning," Yuugi complained.

"It's probably the rain, most people are staying indoors today," Tristan said, meaningfully glaring at Joey. "Have you got somewhere I can put my umbrella?"

"Sure, just lean it against the wall next to the door to let it dry out. Do you two want some hot chocolate?"

"That would be great," Tristan replied as he put the umbrella down.

"Thanks, Yuug. One thing first though."

"Yes?"

"Who have you told?" Joey asked as he folded his arms to try and look a bit more threatening.

"I only told Tea and Serenity, but Serenity asked me if I knew how you and Kaiba were getting on."

"Serenity's coming today?" Tristan asked hopefully.

"She's dating Duke and she's my sister," Joey said in annoyance. "Why do you insist on hitting on her every time you can?"

"Because I like her," Tristan replied. "I'm not complaining about you and Kaiba." Joey paused before answering.

"What's your problem with Seto? Just because he's not got any social skills and possibly one or two connections missing in his head you don't seem able to give him a chance!" Joey was nearly yelling in frustration.

"Look, Joey, I just don't trust the guy. He's never really given us any reason to trust him in the past and he's always out to get what he can for himself. It's been a week and suddenly you're acting like he's the most amazing guy you've ever met."

"Tristan, leave Joey alone. He's right about us not giving Kaiba a chance. None of us have really spent much time trying to get to know him," Yuugi pointed out from where he was leaning on the counter watching the two with interest. He didn't want them to fall out over this but he was used to their arguments, it was how they solved problems between themselves. Unfortunately sometimes he needed to step in and break them up before someone got hurt.

Joey and Tristan refused to look at each other, Tristan feeling uncomfortable about his best friend and Kaiba dating, while Joey was annoyed that his best friend wasn't supporting his decision.

"Can one of you turn the sign round and we'll watch a movie in the living room?" Yuugi suggested, hoping that they would sort this out soon. He didn't like it when Tristan and Joey were angry or upset with each other.

--

Seto leant back in the seat, balancing a tray with his lunch on it on his lap. Mokuba was sat next to him with a similar arrangement. They had ordered takeout from the local Italian, and now had spaghetti and pizza to eat.

The films they were watching had been a gift from Georgie, with a note attached explaining that they were full of 'British humour', and the two staring Simon Pegg would probably appeal to Mokuba, whereas Seto would enjoy Love Actually. Seto had let Mokuba decide which film they would watch first, and had already made a mental note to thank Georgie for something that could keep Mokuba entertained for an hour and a half so easily. He was finding the storyline of Shaun of the Dead rather dull and was struggling to work out what was funny about London being taken over by zombies. As the film ended Mokuba was already out of his seat holding the DVD case ready.

"That was great," Mokuba said happily as he took the DVD out of the DVD player.

"It was different," Seto consented.

"Can we watch Hot Fuzz now, please?" Mokuba asked excitedly as he waved the second DVD case. Seto groaned, knowing that he wasn't really being given a choice.

"I suppose so."

--

Joey glanced around the room as the group chatted amongst themselves. Tristan was sat on the opposite side of the room, refusing to talk to Joey after all the revelations of the morning. The voice of Tea, as she explained to Yuugi how cute the person she had been working with was, assaulted Joey's ears. He listened briefly before deciding that she was more irritating than his own thoughts about how he had lost Tristan. A weight next to him alerted him to another's presence and he lifted his gaze to look at them.

"What do you want, Duke?"

"To know why you are acting more like your worse half than yourself," Duke replied with a shrug as he watched Tristan listen to the small albino detailing his opinions on veterinary science.

"It's none of your business."

"Look I know we don't always see eye to eye, mutt, but I actually want to help you out. When you and Tristan are mad at each other it makes everyone upset, and, although I hate to admit it, I've grown kind of fond of you."

"Well me and Tristan aren't going to be just making friends again. He can't deal with me and Seto being together, and if he's going to be unable to cope with that I don't see how we can continue being friends. I can't just stop liking Seto."

"He'll come around eventually. It's a bit of a shock to suddenly find out that your best friend is gay and likes a guy they've claimed to hate for the last few years. You'll"

"Shall we get going?" Yuugi asked, interrupting Duke and Ryou. A round of nods and 'yeah's were his reply as people began to stand up.

--

Seto turned in a full circle as Mokuba had instructed him to. The youngest Kaiba put on a critical expression as he looked over Seto's outfit.

"What do you think?" Seto asked.

"Honestly? I have no more opinion on this outfit than I did on the last two. Just wear something you feel comfortable with and you think looks nice. I'm sure Joey hasn't put anywhere near as much thought into his outfit as you've put into yours."

"Well I want to look good."

"For some reason I got that impression. You look perfectly fine, Seto," Mokuba reassured as he hoped Seto would just settle with this outfit instead of continuing to ask his opinion.

"Thanks," Seto replied with a slight smile.

"One thing though. Are you sure about the eyeliner?"

--

Mokuba was bouncing in the front seat, having already been banned from touching the radio. Seto had decided that he preferred Mokuba's inane chatter about the film he was going to watch with Kari to the sound of static as Mokuba attempted to retune the radio. It was surprisingly empty in town for a Saturday, which Seto guessed was due to the earlier rain. The weather had only improved a couple of hours ago as a strong breeze had moved the clouds to the North.

"So what are you and Joey going to be doing before you go to the restaurant?" Mokuba asked after explaining the film's plot to his satisfaction.

"Nothing much."

"Really? So you were checking the local weather reports continuously for the last three hours for 'nothing much'?" Mokuba asked as he moved forwards in his seat. Seto noticed the twitching of his hands as he controlled the urge to switch the radio back on.

"I was going to drag Joey back to Kaiba Corp to watch the sunset from the roof," Seto replied quietly.

"You're a real romantic, Seto," Mokuba told him with a grin as the car stopped. The car door was open in a flash as Mokuba jumped out before Seto had switched off the engine. They were parked down the street next to the arcade that was surprisingly empty, like the rest of town had been. Seto opened his door and stepped out into the road before locking the car. He had no doubt that it would be at least fifteen minutes before he would return with Joey.

--

Joey was surprised as he heard the voice behind him.

"Hello, Joey." He spun around to see Kari standing behind him with her red hair down around her shoulders causing him to not recognise her for a few seconds.

"Kari. Hi, what are you doing here?"

"Mokie's taking me out to the cinema and we agreed to meet here," she told him with a wide grin. Joey noticed the way that she was wearing make up and a rather decorative outfit, she was obviously trying to look nice for her boyfriend. It made Joey feel a bit awkward that he hadn't made an effort to look nice for Seto, but it couldn't be changed now.

"Who's your friend?" Yuugi asked as he walked over to the two of them.

"This is Kari, Mokuba's girlfriend." Kari blushed and hid behind Joey. "Kari, this is Yuugi."

"Hello, Kari. It's nice to meet you," Yuugi said as Kari continued to hide. They all turned as they heard a pair of familiar voices talking about how annoying the other was. Both brothers turned the corner into the aisle Joey, Yuugi and Kari were standing in.

"Joey he is all yours. I can't put up with him any longer before I go insane," Mokuba complained.

"I have such a caring little brother," Seto commented as he walked over to the group.

"Well, I care about you," Joey responded as Seto stopped in front of him. It wasn't close enough for Joey to brush his hand over Seto's cheek, but Joey didn't make any moves to get closer. They were in a very public place, with Yuugi, Kari and Mokuba standing with them.

"Where's the rest of your group?" Seto asked Yuugi as he turned to the shorter duelist.

"They're around the arcade. I can go and find them all if you want to say hello," Yuugi replied happily.

"Not particularly, I was assuming that the pup would want to say goodbye to everyone before I dragged him away."

"That's a good idea. I'll go and find them, wait here." Yuugi rushed off to find the group as Joey wondered what he was going to do about Seto and Tristan. There was no chance this could go well. 'What am I going to do?'

"Go on," Mokuba was saying to Kari as Joey continued to wonder about his predicament.

"Joyeux anniversaire," the small girl said to Seto. Joey frowned not recognising the language at all and wondering what had been said.

"Merci beaucoup," Seto replied to her with a wide smile. Kari frowned and looked to Mokuba, Seto also glanced at Mokuba realising that he must have only taught her one phrase. "Thank you very much," he translated for Kari.

"It's ok. Mokuba came up with the idea." Joey was still lost in the conversation but didn't get a chance to ask as Yuugi came back with the others.

"Have fun, both of you," Duke said with a suggestive grin. Joey managed to notice the slight blush on Seto cheeks at the comment but grinned back at Duke.

"I really don't want to listen to this, so we're going to get going. Bye everyone," Mokuba said, quickly gaining Seto's attention.

"Remember, back by ten," Seto reminded him.

"Like you're going to be back home at ten to check," Mokuba retorted.

"I have my ways." Seto glanced behind Mokuba at Kari, causing Mokuba to turn to look at her.

"You two are ganging up on me, that's not fair. From now on you two aren't spending any time together," Mokuba informed them loudly.

"Whatever you say, Mokie. Go and have fun," Seto replied as they began walking away again.

"Bye, Seto. Bye, Joey," Kari said as she followed Mokuba.

"Bye," both Joey and Seto responded before turning back to the group.

"Both Kaiba brothers out on dates tonight," Yuugi said with a grin.

"Mokuba and Kari are so sweet," Tea told them all.

"Where are you two going tonight?" Ryou asked.

"To a restaurant and I'm not telling you lot which one or you'll end up not leaving us alone," Joey replied, taking a few steps so that he could pull Seto into a hug. He'd noticed Tristan's glare at the CEO and felt slightly protective over Seto, even if it was from his former best friend. Seto didn't fight, instead opting to slouch enough to lean his head on Joey's shoulder. This elicited an 'aw' from Tea and Ryou. Duke and Yuugi both grinned at them both, but Tristan continued to glare. Joey decided he wasn't going to care what Tristan thought, he had the most gorgeous guy he knew leant against his shoulder and the majority of his friends, both old and new, were supporting his decision. If Tristan was unable to deal with the relationship then so be it.

"We ought to get going, Joey," Seto informed him.

"Ok, sorry guys but we've got to go."

"Phone me tomorrow, Joey," Yuugi told him excitedly.

"Fine. Bye for now," Joey told them all as he let go of Seto so that they could walk.

Shouts of 'Bye, Joey, bye, Kaiba,' followed them out of the building from everyone except Tristan.

--

Joey laughed as Seto tossed the Sat Nav into the back seat as it automatically switched itself on with the car's engine.

"I take it you don't like being told what to do," he said when he got his laughter under control.

"I'm willing to make exceptions in special cases," Seto replied as he pulled out into the road.

"Am I a special case?" Joey asked, grinning.

"Maybe. It depends if you make a good suggestion." Joey glanced around the car, trying to expel those thoughts from his mind. Knowing Seto was sat next to him wasn't helping, especially in those tight clothes under his long coat. Joey shifted in his seat as he thought about how little would be left to the imagination with just that coat gone. In an effort to take his mind off it he decided to find out where they were going and what this surprise was.

"So what are we doing before we go to the restaurant?" Joey asked.

"That's a surprise," Seto replied with a grin.

Joey decided that continuing to pester Seto about what this surprise was wouldn't work. If the CEO wanted to not tell him something, there was no way Joey could persuade him to tell him. Joey doubted that Seto would even give in under torture. He sighed and turned back to the window to watch the road go by. It wasn't long before he spotted the towering building of Kaiba Corp.

"I've finished work experience, Seto," Joey complained as he realised that was where they were headed.

"I know, pup, but there's something I want to show you," Seto replied as he pulled into the car park. Joey had the door open as soon as Seto switched off the engine and jumped out of the seat to look at the now familiar sight of the entrance to the lobby.

"What can you possibly have planned here except boredom?" Joey asked.

"You'll see." Joey followed Seto into the lobby and across to the lift. As they passed the reception desk the receptionist held up a handful of envelopes.

"These arrived for you, Mr Kaiba," she said as Seto turned to glance at her.

"I'll deal with them on Monday. Can you have them put on my desk?"

"Of course, Mr Kaiba." They entered the lift and Joey wondered what all the envelopes were about. Maybe they were from Seto's numerous admirers, and he had dismissed them all until Monday. The lift doors shut behind them and Joey was reminded of last Monday when he'd nearly kissed Seto for the first time. Well today he wasn't going to get nervous.

Seto felt Joey grab the collar of his coat and force their lips together. They took a few steps until Seto was trapped between the wall of the lift and Joey. Joey parted their lips to take a few much needed deep breaths.

"So, now you've got me trapped, what are you going to do?" Seto asked, watching Joey with his crystal blue eyes.

"I'm not sure. There are so many options." Joey looked thoughtful as he ran a hand across Seto's cheek. A grin spread across his face as Seto shifted his head to increase the pressure on his cheek from Joey's hand. This movement had exposed the pale skin of his neck, which Joey took immediate advantage of. Seto groaned as he felt Joey gently nip at his pulse point before running his tongue to sooth the slight sting. Joey continued his assault on Seto's neck as he felt the lift stop. The doors opened and Joey looked up as he felt the cold air enter the lift.

"We're here," Seto told him as he tried to push Joey off of him. Joey stepped back to allow Seto to move and they exited the lift.

The view was impressive.

"You can see the whole of town from up here," Joey said in awe as he turned a full circle to try and see it all.

"I thought you might appreciate it," Seto replied, smiling at Joey's wonder.

"It's just … wow," the blond turned to look at where the redness of the sunlight disappearing over the horizon was illuminating the clouds. "I think I prefer looking at you though."

Seto smiled slightly at the compliment but shivered as he pulled his coat around himself.

"Are you cold?" Joey asked, realising after he said it how stupid he must sound. Seto's look showed that the CEO thought it was a pointless question as well but Joey ignored it.

"Do you want my jacket or a hug?" Joey asked, wondering how long it would be before he got hypothermia if Seto took the jacket. The heat was disappearing quickly from the roof after the sun set so he could tell that it wouldn't be long before he was going to start shivering just like Seto, with or without his jacket.

"I'll go with the second option, but we need to leave soon for the restaurant." Joey wasted no time in pulling Seto into a hug, feeling the heat from Seto's body against himself. Seto wrapped his arms loosely around Joey's waist, under his jacket, and leaned his head against his shoulder.

"I always thought that your coats would be good enough to stop you getting cold, Seto."

"This coat's new and doesn't seem to be as good as you are at keeping me warm," Seto replied.

"It's nice to know you need me for something," Joey commented as he pulled Seto as close to himself as possible without suffocating Seto. They stood like that for only a few moments, happy with each other's presence, before Seto sighed.

"We need to get going or we're going to be late at the restaurant."

--

Joey took another mouthful of food as he watched Seto across the table. Seto was sipping his drink, eating his food a lot slower than Joey was. They had gone to a Chinese restaurant and Joey hadn't been very surprised that the waiters knew Seto and hurried to show them to one of the private rooms. It seemed fairly obvious to Joey that Seto frequented this restaurant with business clients and Mokuba. He found it entertaining that the waiters didn't know how to act towards him, whether to treat him with respect and not try to make conversation or whether to chat happily with him.

"I'm assuming you like the food," Seto said with a smile as he put down his glass. Joey grinned back as he noticed the red wine Seto was drinking had left a few drops at the corner of his lips, making Seto look rather like a vampire.

"It's wonderful, Seto," Joey replied as he swallowed his mouthful.

"I'm glad you like it."

"Do you come here a lot?"

"At least once a month, it's a good place to bring clients or, as I did last week, Mokuba and his friends."

"I'm sure that was fun." Joey watched as Seto licked his fork clean before answering.

"Tremendous fun, my white coat is still at the dry cleaners as they can't get the red wine stain out."

"I would hate to be the person who spilt wine on your coat," Joey said with a laugh at the mental image of Seto's reaction to having his coat ruined. They ate in silence for a few more minutes, Joey watching Seto as he lifted the fork to his mouth and the movement of the various muscles under that pale skin as Seto chewed then swallowed.

"I thought you were better and weren't passing out on me anymore," Seto commented, bringing Joey out of his trance.

"I think you're hypnotising me," Joey complained, realising that he had stopped moving with his fork halfway to his mouth. "I reckon that you keep trying to hypnotise me so that you can take advantage of me." Seto started laughing as Joey finished explaining his theory. The sound was strange to hear from Seto, but it sounded so honest and happy. Joey wasn't sure he'd ever heard Seto laugh before, the disturbed cackle he'd heard but the true honest laughter was new. It was a sound he was definitely going to try and hear again from the CEO.

"Joey I don't think I would need to hypnotise you," Seto said with a smile as he stopped laughing.

"Probably not," Joey replied, "but that's only because you've hypnotised me into thinking you are amazingly attractive with a great personality."

"Of course it is," Seto said in a patronising voice as if he was humouring a small child. Joey remembered that voice, but somehow it wasn't as offensive now as it had seemed in the past.

"Are you going to finish that?" Joey asked, pointing his fork at Seto's plate of food. Seto still had half of his meal left whereas Joey had just finished his plateful.

"Probably not, I'm assuming that you're offering to help me finish it though."

"What are boyfriends for?" Joey asked with a laugh as Seto offered his forkful of food to Joey across the table. There was no hesitation from the pup as he allowed Seto to feed him. Seto smiled as Joey accepted the food, it was odd feeding Joey across the table but at the same time it was strangely pleasing to feel the slight tug on the fork as Joey used his teeth and tongue to pull the food from the metal implement. The plate was slowly cleared as Seto alternated between feeding himself and Joey with the same fork.

"I think we're going to have to go to more restaurants together," Joey said as Seto finished up the last remains of his meal.

"Is that so you can eat my food?"

"Of course. Do we get pudding?" Joey asked with a grin and licking his lips.

"If you want pup, but I'm not going to have any." The waiters had probably been hovering outside the room as two of them walked through the door to clear away the plates and cutlery, passing Joey a dessert menu as well. Joey glanced down the options on the menu, wondering what he should get that he could offer to Seto. The main waiter reappeared after only a few minutes to ask if Joey had made a decision and offer Seto a coffee. Seto accepted and Joey decided that he would be childish and go for a sundae. As Joey ordered he noticed the slight smile from Seto at his choice.

"What's so amusing about me liking ice cream, chocolate and sprinkles?" Joey asked as Seto continued to grin.

"It's just that's what Mokie always orders," Seto replied. It wasn't long before the waiters returned with Seto's coffee and Joey's sundae. Joey smiled as he picked up his spoon to start devouring the food, forgetting about how he was going to offer it to Seto. From across the table Seto couldn't help but smile as he watched Joey demolish the ice cream, he sipped his coffee and considered unwrapping the small chocolate liqueurs that had been put on the saucer next to his coffee cup. He'd never seen the sense of this trait in restaurants as the chocolates always melted as they were put next to the hot coffee. Seto continued to watch the sundae disappear and resisted the urge to laugh as he noticed that Joey had managed to get ice cream on his nose. As Joey realised that Seto was watching him over the top of his coffee he paused.

"Do you want some?" Joey asked as he took another spoonful from his bowl.

"I'll try some," Seto replied as he put his coffee cup back down next to the liqueurs. They both leaned across the table, Joey offering the spoon to Seto which was ignored. Seto licked the ice cream from the tip of Joey's nose and cheeks, causing a blush to colour Joey's face. Joey just remained still as Seto leant back and picked up his coffee again.

"I think I may have to get you more ice cream," Seto said with a grin as he sipped his coffee.

"I won't object," Joey replied as he leant back and continued to eat the sundae in a slight daze. The feeling of that tongue on his skin, lapping at his cheeks, caused him to feel slightly tingly and his blush remained. Joey managed to finish off the sundae before Seto was even halfway through his coffee, meaning that Joey ended up watching Seto sip the liquid. He was reminded of last Saturday when they were sat in the café, watching those muscles move in his throat.

"You seem to have a strange obsession with watching me, pup," Seto commented.

"I wouldn't call it strange," Joey replied with a grin as Seto put down the cup. The blue eyed CEO then picked up the first of his chocolates and slowly pulled off the wrapper, smiling as he noticed it was fairly melted. The tips of his fingers became coated in the substance as he brought the sweet to his lips, watching Joey watch him across the table. Seto licked the chocolate before taking it into his mouth, sucking the sticky goo from a couple of his fingers at the same time.

"Now you're just being mean," Joey groaned as he shifted in his seat.

"I'm just eating my chocolates," Seto replied as he licked the melted chocolate from his fingertips. His tongue danced over the soft skin making Joey fidget in his seat.

"Do I have to sit here watching you eat all you're chocolates or are you going to share?"

"You can't still be hungry, Joey, but you can have the rest of the chocolates if you want." Seto picked up his coffee again to wash away the taste of the liqueur, he'd never been very fond of chocolate liqueurs but it was worth putting up with the taste to tease Joey. The pup looked a little lost with the idea of eating the other three chocolates, especially after Seto's display, but he wasn't going to refuse food.

"I don't want to deprive you of them so two each sounds fair to me," Joey said as he picked up one of the neatly wrapped sweets. He pulled off the wrapper and managed to smear the melting chocolate across both his hands. Seto fought the smile of amusement that was trying to make its way onto his face at Joey's attempt to copy him. Joey had managed to spread the chocolate across most of his fingers before the chocolate made it out of its wrapper, meaning Joey was now licking the chocolate from across both hands. Seto allowed a small smile at how Joey's tongue flickered out from between his rosy lips; it was enticing in its own way. The uncontrolled, sloppiness of Joey's attempt was more attractive to Seto than his own decisive actions.

"So I have to eat another chocolate?" Seto asked as Joey finished cleaning his hands.

"Of course," Joey replied with a grin as he picked up his own second chocolate. He hurried in unwrapping it to try and avoid the goo spreading over his already sticky hands. This chocolate was popped into his mouth rather unceremoniously as Joey focused on watching Seto begin his display for the second time. Seto considered disappointing his pup but decided he wouldn't survive the evening of complaining he would have to endure if he did.

--

Joey shifted in the front seat of the car as Seto slid into the driver's seat. He looked at the clock on the dash board to see it was only nine o clock, far earlier than he expected after the way they had managed to drag out the meal at the restaurant. Seto fumbled with the keys as he tried to start up the engine, looking nervously across at Joey.

"Do you want to come back to my house for a hot chocolate?" he asked as he managed to get the keys to work. Joey wondered if this was a normal line for Seto to use to ask people back in the past and felt his mouth go dry in expectation. Did he really want to rush things this fast?

"Sure," he replied, wondering why he felt so nervous. He wanted this didn't he? He wanted to sleep with Seto. It was what he had been dreaming about for months so why did he feel so nervous about the prospect?

They were silent for the entire drive until they reached the gates at the front of the Kaiba estate. Joey looked up at them in awe as Seto fumbled with the key ring. The gates swung open automatically as he operated something attached to the key ring.

"That's impressive, Seto. I haven't been to your house in years."

"You've only visited once, and that was when Gozaburo was in charge. It's changed a bit since then."

"I'm going to get lost," Joey complained as he watched out the window as they neared the mansion.

"I'll make sure you don't," Seto replied, glancing over at Joey. The nervousness was still clear in his eyes, but he was hiding it well. Joey wondered if agreeing to come back to Seto's house was really a good idea or a terrible mistake that they were both going to regret.

Seto pulled the car to a stop outside the front door and switched off the engine. Joey glanced at Seto, noticing the slight fear in his eyes. Was Seto worried about what might happen tonight? Did Seto not want to let Joey have control?

Seto pushed open his car door and stood up. He looked back at Joey, who had yet to move.

"Are you going to sit there all night?"

"Of course not," Joey replied as he undid his seat belt and hurriedly got out of the car. They remained silent as Seto opened the front door and led the way through the myriad of corridors. Joey decided that he didn't want to loose sight of Seto as there was no way he would be able to find his way back out of the house alone. After walking what Joey thought must be at least a mile, they reached a kitchen. Unlike most of the other rooms they had passed this one looked used, with a notice board near the door covered in pictures, both childish pictures with Mokuba's name scribbled on the bottom and more professional looking ones that were unsigned, interspersed with what looked like school letters. Joey began reading one as Seto filled the kettle with water and found mugs in one of the cupboards.

'Dear Mr Kaiba

'Your presence is requested at the school parents' evening on Wednesday 5th November to discuss Mokuba's progress. Please fill in and return the attendance slip to Mokuba's tutor who will allocate suitable time slots to talk to each subject teacher.'

The bottom of the letter had been torn off and, Joey assumed, returned to Mokuba's tutor. A second letter had been pinned up next to it with times and subjects written in. Next to the board was a calendar with various things written on the days. Joey noticed that something had been scrawled on it for today and he leant forward trying to read it.

"Do you want any sugar in your hot chocolate?" Seto asked, causing Joey to jump.

"Who has sugar in hot chocolate?" Joey asked, wondering how anyone could like something that sweet.

"Mokuba," Seto replied with a smile as he put a mug down on the table with a packet of marshmallows. When Seto turned back around to fetch the second mug Joey looked at the calendar again. The scribbled words weren't clear but it was obvious what they said.

'Seto 18th birthday'

Joey blinked, everything made sense now. Seto taking the day off work to spend most of the day with Mokuba. The date being circled in Seto's diary. The note in Seto's diary about Mokuba having plans for the day. Kari speaking to Seto earlier about something, she was probably wishing him happy birthday. The collection of cards Seto's receptionist had collected on her desk for him. It had been obvious all along.

"What is so interesting to you, pup?"

"It's your birthday," Joey said quietly.

"Is that a problem, Joey?" Seto asked, his voice was fairly flat but Joey was sure he heard a slight hint of the nervousness like he had seen in Seto's eyes earlier.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't think it was important."

"It's your eighteenth birthday, Seto, most people go out to celebrate their eighteenth with a group of their friends and get completely drunk."

"That doesn't appeal to me in the slightest. I think I would rather spend my eighteenth birthday with my brother and my boyfriend," Seto replied with a smile.

"Even if your boyfriend didn't know it was your birthday?"

"That would be even better because it would stop him insisting on doing something special." Seto sipped his mug of hot chocolate as he continued to smile at Joey.

--

The hot chocolate was gone in less than ten minutes and the tension caused by nerves seemed to have dissipated.

"For my eighteenth I want a party with all my friends and a huge cake, maybe a stripper as well." Seto crossed his arms and mock glared at Joey as the pup continued to explain what he wanted to do for his eighteenth birthday. "Then everyone will stay for the whole night and we'll all get drunk on the atmosphere and alcohol. Of course if your there I plan on getting lucky that night."

"It would be fair if I had the same option on my eighteenth then, wouldn't it?" Seto wished he could take back those words, but it had been said. What they were both so nervous about had been suggested, and he had suggested it.

Joey remained silent, completely speechless. What should he do? Did Seto expect him to do something now? If he was expecting something from Joey why did he look so worried about it? That nervousness was plainly seen on his face, written in those blue orbs for the entire world to see.

Neither wanted to make the first move so just sat staring at each other across the wooden table top. Seto felt like he should say something, anything, to take back the suggestion. Joey moved before he could speak.

The blond wasn't sure what he was doing, all he knew was that he was going to try his hardest to please Seto. He pulled Seto up off his chair and into a kiss, slowly backing the brunette into the kitchen wall as Joey ran his tongue around Seto's mouth. As he felt a need for air he pulled back and began attacking the buttons of Seto's shirt with his fingers. Seto's hands were at the hem of his t-shirt, trying to pull it upwards. Joey paused in his task of undoing the shirt to help Seto lift the clothing over his head. The t-shirt dropped to the floor, closely followed by Seto's shirt.

Joey began kissing Seto's neck, quickly finding his pulse point again where a bruise had appeared from his previous attack. Seto moaned and let his head fall back against the wall, giving Joey more room to nip and suck at his neck. Joey pushed closer to Seto, feeling a slight hardness against his hip. It was an odd thought that he was going to be able to, no, was expected to feel the burning flesh under his hand. He'd been dreaming about doing this to Seto for ages, but now that he was finally able to he felt unsure. This was all too fast. He had to stop this. He had to say no.

The sound of someone clearing their throat brought both Joey and Seto out of their partially coherent thoughts. Seto looked fairly dazed and Joey couldn't help but feel proud that he'd achieved that look from the usually emotionless CEO.

"If you two are going to do stuff like that can you please not leave the door open?" Mokuba asked from the doorway.

"Of course," Seto replied, still trapped between Joey and the wall. "How did your date go?"

"Fine, I'll tell you in the morning as you look a bit busy right now," Mokuba said, looking eager to run away from the kitchen.

"Ok, sleep well," Seto said as Mokuba turned to flee from the room, looking relieved that he could leave.

"Good night," Joey said to Mokuba as he disappeared from sight, still mystified that Seto could act normally when caught by his younger brother in a very compromising position.

"Joey?" Seto asked quietly, the nervousness back in his voice.

"What?" Joey asked as he tried to lift Seto's chin so that he could look into Seto's face.

"I want to take things slower. I … I don't want to rush things like I did with the others. … I want this relationship to be special." Joey breathed a sigh of relief as he heard Seto's words. He wrapped his arms around Seto to pull him into a hug as best as he could without having to step backwards.

"I understand completely, Seto, I don't want to rush this either," Joey told him whilst peppering Seto's cheek with kisses in an attempt to make Seto turn his head to face him. "There's one problem though."

"What?" Seto asked, finally turning to look at Joey with worry clear in his eyes.

"It's a bit late for me to go home now and I haven't brought my pyjamas." Joey felt the smile return to his face as Seto started laughing in relief.

--

Joey smiled to himself as he leaned back onto the bed in the spare room he had been offered by Seto. The room was large, decorated a rich colour combination of reds and oranges that were matched by the deep red silken sheets on the bed. It was almost overwhelming to Joey's senses as he felt the sheets cool against his back as he stared at the ceiling with its artistic swirls of colour.

He shifted in an attempt to feel more comfortable but only succeeded in making his borrowed pyjama trousers slide down his hips. Pushing himself up he decided that the best option would be to make his way along the corridor to the room he knew was Seto's so that he could say goodnight to the brunette. Maybe he would be able to stay and chat for a while.

The carpet felt cold on his bare feet as he stood up from the bed and walked to the door. Along the corridor between the two rooms Joey managed to pull up the trousers but they did almost nothing against the slight chill in the air.

"I came to say good night, but it's freezing out here, Seto," Joey complained as he stood in the open doorway. Seto looked up from where he had been sat reading a book, curled up in the sheets on his bed. The brunette sighed and pulled down the covers next to him in a silent invitation. Joey took it without word, snuggling up to Seto and causing him to drop his reading book and loose his page.

"You are frozen, Joey," Seto complained as Joey used him as a hot water bottle.

"Well you'll have to help me get warm again," Joey replied with a mischievous grin as he hugged Seto's body closer to himself.

"Fine, but only if you let me get some sleep and this is just because it's cold tonight. Don't think you can just sleep in my bed whenever you want," Seto muttered in a rather unconvincing voice making Joey grin.

"Deal, I'll let my hot water bottle go to sleep as long as I can cuddle him all night," Joey said childishly as he held Seto trapped against himself.

"You'll have to let me breath, Joey," Seto muttered as he tried to wriggle into a more comfortable position.

"Ok," Joey replied and loosened his grip enough to let Seto get comfortable against him.

"Are you going to switch off the lamp?" Seto asked as he finished shifting position. Joey wordlessly reached across to the bedside table and plunged them both into darkness curled up together under the covers.

--

Heva: Aw that's a cute image at the end I think. Well what do people think of it?

Coel: She almost didn't upload this today and you would have all had to wait until Sunday then as she has to sort out everything for her relatives arriving tomorrow.

Heva: Don't remind me Coel. I've got too much to do tonight and it's pantomime rehearsal in half an hour so I'm going to be unable to tidy up the house until after ten o clock tonight. Nocturnal cleaning is not good.

Anyway I hope you guys all enjoy the chapter and feel like reviewing. The next chapter should be up next Friday for all of you to take a look at. Have a great week.

Date: 17/10/08


	12. Sunday the morning after

Sunday – the morning after

Heva: Well this is the penultimate chapter. Gosh I'm going to miss this story and I really need to finish writing that last chapter.

Coel: If you plan on uploading it next Friday you ought to hurry up.

Heva: I suppose so. I'll go and work on it when I get home as I'm not writing a lemon scene whilst in my school IT rooms.

Coel: Why not? I'm sure the group of other students around you at the moment would find it entertaining…especially if a teacher catches you.

Heva: Anyway enjoy the chapter while I try to ignore the group of people who have just started singing songs from High School Musical. I wonder if I'll get expelled for murder to shut them up.

--

Sunday – the morning after

--

Joey blinked as he tried to make sense of his surroundings. He frowned at the light blue sheets. A slight sigh next to him caused his body to tense as he tried to get his sleep clouded mind to work. The weight in the bed curled up next to him shifted slightly, messy brown hair coming into view as he glanced down. Joey's mind still couldn't make sense of what he was doing waking up in a strange bed with someone cuddling him but decided he wouldn't move from the warmth and comfort.

His mind finally gave in and Joey remembered last night. Pushing Seto into a wall and taking away the brunette's breath, before being led upstairs and leant some pyjamas. He'd curled up with Seto in the CEO's bed and fallen asleep with Seto in his arms. Joey grinned to himself as he pulled Seto's body closer to his and the brunette mumbled something in his sleep about not wanting to wake up. The blankets were covering Seto almost completely apart from the few locks of brown hair that Joey had spotted earlier. Joey pushed down the covers to try and get a look at Seto's tranquil expression but as soon as he tried Seto reached for the blankets to try and pull them back up. It turned out that Seto didn't have as much will power when he was asleep as when he was awake and gave up fairly quickly allowing Joey to pull the blankets down a bit. The cold air caused Seto to snuggle up closer and Joey ran his hand through Seto's brown locks. He shifted his head a little as Seto rather ungraciously tried to bury his face in his neck.

The curtains hadn't been closed last night so the morning light was illuminating the room a fiery orange and Joey blinked as he turned his head to look at the scene outside. The sun must have only just risen meaning it was far too early to be awake. He glanced down at the still slumbering Seto and snuggled back into the warm covers with him.

It was barely a minute before a ringing sound started and he felt Seto stir. The ringing continued as Seto stretched, pushing away from Joey at the same time. Joey watched as sleep clouded blue eyes blinked open as Seto turned over to find his phone from the bedside table. It was quite strange to watch a half asleep Seto acting what seemed automatically to answer his mobile phone.

The blue eyed CEO glanced at the display on the phone and groaned in what Joey assumed was annoyance before answering it.

"Why are you calling this early in the morning?" Seto asked the caller in a sleep filled voice that still managed to sound menacing, although the yawn at the end of the sentence spoiled the effect.

"What I do in my life is of no concern to them… no … I'm not dignifying that question with a response … yes," Seto pulled the phone away from his ear and glanced over groggily at Joey. "Are you awake?"

"Yes," Joey replied and took the phone when Seto offered it wordlessly to him. He lifted the phone to his ear as Seto snuggled back under the covers and curled up next to him.

"And another thing, young master Kaiba, is a complete lack of caring for those of us that are trying to do our jobs talking to the press to try and keep them on your side. We do our best to make sure they don't print unwanted details about your social life and questionable company affairs, then you don't have the courtesy to tell us that you are dating a boy from your school so that we can prepare a press statement." Joey glanced down at the now sleeping brunette against his chest and wondered how he coped with this woman who was on the phone. He assumed that she was Seto's press agent, or whatever they were called, and Seto had passed the phone to him as he didn't want to put up with her this morning. She was still talking when Joey dropped the phone onto the bed covers and snuggled up to Seto again.

"Have you gone back to sleep, Seto?" Joey asked quietly as he ran his now free hand through Seto's hair. It was a complete mess but still nice to touch which wasn't something that surprised Joey as he had seen Seto's bathroom last night when he put on his borrowed pyjama bottoms and used his borrowed toothbrush. The number of cosmetic products cluttering Seto's bathroom would lead anyone to believe it belonged to a fashionable teenage girl and Joey decided he ought to ask Seto about some of it, especially the large amount of brown hair dye. It was fairly obvious that brown was not Seto's natural hair colour, well not anymore at least.

As Seto hadn't replied that he was awake Joey decided to go back to sleep as well. It was warm, comfortable and far too early to be getting up.

--

Joey blinked as he felt himself being shaken awake.

"Wake up, Joey," a voice was saying that definitely wasn't Seto's. The voice was higher pitched and far too excitable.

"Go away. I want to sleep," Joey complained turning over and pulling the covers over his head like he did when his dad tried to get him up in the morning.

"No chance," the voice replied defiantly as Joey felt someone begin to bounce on the bed. "Get up! Get up! Get up!" was being yelled with the bouncing and Joey realised who it must be. Only two people would possibly bounce on Seto's bed and Seto really didn't seem to be the kind of person who would voluntarily jump on a bed, whereas Mokuba probably wouldn't think twice about it.

"Why do I have to get up, Mokuba?" Joey asked as he pulled the sheets tighter in a symbol of defiance.

"Because Seto's cooking breakfast and he said I can't have any of it until you're downstairs." Mokuba continued bouncing as he spoke making it hard to understand what he was saying but Joey heard the words 'Seto's cooking breakfast' and pushed the covers off himself so that he could get out of bed. "Seto said that you could borrow his spare dressing gown if you wanted. It's on the back of his door," Mokuba told Joey as he jumped off the bed and dashed over to the door to fetch said dressing gown. Joey couldn't help but notice the light blue colour that matched Seto so well as Mokuba handed him the clothing.

The smell of pancakes was delicious as they made their way downstairs to the kitchen and Joey felt his mouth watering at the scent. They entered the kitchen together as Joey had made sure to stay with Mokuba the entire trip to make sure he didn't get lost in the myriad of corridors. The sight that greeted them Joey tried to commit to memory.

There was a mixing bowl on the side, which was nearly empty of batter, with a ladle lying next to it. Next to this there was an open box of cooking lard which had been used to grease the frying pan that was sitting on the cooker. The frying pan was spluttering as Seto put some more lard in it to melt before he put the next lot of batter into it. On the table were four plates, one already piled high with pancakes, and a variety of things to put on the pancakes; such as syrup, chocolate chips, marshmallows, sugar, lemon juice and a variety of other treats that Joey was unsure of the identity of. The main centre of his attention focused on the lone figure of Seto stood next to the frying pan holding a spatula in one hand as he poured the next pancake into the frying pan. He was wearing an apron which was looking a little over used and in need of replacing. It was probably white originally but had turned a slight grey with age and Joey could see the tag that said it was property of the orphanage Seto and Mokuba had been in. The flour used to make the batter had obviously been spilt at some point that morning as Joey could see the white powder spread across the flour and work surface, also dusting across Seto's face and hands making him look even paler than usual. It was a homely scene Joey decided, and he was now part of it. He smiled as Seto turned round to see the two of them in the doorway.

"I see Mokie managed to wake you," Seto said happily as he picked up a mug of coffee from the table and took a sip.

"He's got quite a talent for waking people," Joey replied with a smile as Mokuba picked up one of the plates from the table and transferred one of the warm pancakes to it before covering it in sugar, chocolate chips and syrup. Seto shook his head as Mokuba glanced over to his older brother for permission as he picked up the packet of marshmallows.

"You're going to rot your teeth, Mokie," Seto told him as Mokuba sat down to eat his breakfast.

"I'll get some dentures then," the youngster replied as he used a fork and spoon to start devouring the sickly sweet mess on his plate. Seto sighed at his brother's comment and turned to face Joey again.

"Feel free to put what you want on your pancakes, you don't have to follow Mokuba's example." Mokuba grinned as Joey poured the syrup onto his own pancake as well as some chocolate chips. "You two are as bad as each other," Seto complained as he turned back to the cooker to flip the pancake over.

"I'm not sure whether that's meant to be an insult or a compliment," Joey replied as he began to follow Mokuba's example of eating with a spoon and fork to try and stop as much syrup escaping across the table and floor as possible.

"It's an insult because Seto doesn't like sweet things," Mokuba informed him.

"That's a shame," Joey replied, "because I like sweet things a lot." The smirk on Joey's face caused Seto to blush bright red and hit him with the spatula.

"No comments like that at the table or with Mokuba present," Seto reprimanded him as he washed the spatula in the sink before putting the next pancake onto the spare plate. He sprinkled a small amount of sugar and lemon juice on it before sitting next to Joey to eat his breakfast.

"Don't worry about me, I've seen enough of a display last night to be in therapy for years," Mokuba reminded them. Seto's blush returned as he refused to look at either of them, while Joey just grinned.

"I'm sure your brother can afford the best shrinks in the world for you, as well as your false teeth," Joey replied as he continued to smile as he reached for a second pancake.

"He might spend it all on gifts for you though, leaving me only able to afford the second best psychiatrist in the world," Mokuba pointed out.

"I'm sure I can persuade your brother that your mental health is more important than buying highly suggestive outfits for my appreciation." Joey started laughing as Seto playfully hit him, while Mokuba tried to keep a straight face. He could tell Joey was just winding Seto up and succeeding, although his comments were about things he really didn't want to know it was still funny to watch the two of them.

The rest of breakfast went by uneventfully as Seto made Joey promise to stop making suggestive comments in front of Mokuba however innocent he thought they sounded. Mokuba had started laughing at how Joey had tried to defend himself by saying that he was being perfectly innocent and Seto must have a dirty mind to think he was hinting at anything. Mokuba had left the room shortly afterwards having finished eating his pancakes. Joey had finished as well but stayed to help Seto clean up the kitchen, well just spend time with him actually but that sounded like a soppy thing to say.

Joey watched Seto finish the last piece of pancake left on his plate and found himself mesmerised by the muscles in his throat again. It was an odd fascination with the way Seto moved he concluded as he saw the muscles contract and relax as he swallowed his mouthful, the bruise he had made yesterday shifting with the movement.

"You're going to make me paranoid if you keep staring like that," Seto commented as he drank the rest of his coffee.

"What if I want to stare at you?" Joey asked as he shifted his gaze to meet Seto's eyes.

"You'll make me paranoid like I said," Seto replied.

"Well you and Mokuba can both go and see the same psychiatrist then," Joey told him with a grin. Seto sighed but Joey could see the slight turn up of his lips that showed he was amused with the answer. "So what are we doing today?"

"Georgie leaves this afternoon but I haven't got anything planned for today so what would you like to do?"

"What have you got to amuse yourself in this house?" Joey asked and wondered why Seto's smirk appeared on his face almost immediately.

--

Mokuba grinned at them both as Seto pushed open the door to the games room. Joey felt his mouth drop open in amazement at the sight of the room. The first thing he realised was that this room was Mokuba's more than Seto's as it was a mess with pop corn on the floor. There were shelves and shelves covering the far wall, all full of DVDs, games and a few videos with a huge flat screen TV in the middle with a collection of games consoles below it. Mokuba had set up a game on the system that was loading when they entered.

"I thought you had tidied up after your friends came over?" Seto questioned as he walked over to his younger brother.

"I was going to, but then I saw how messy it actually was and decided to leave it for later in the week," Mokuba replied honestly as the game finished loading. "Are you two wanting to play a game?"

"Do you want to play a game, Joey?" Seto asked, turning to the still awe struck Joey.

"What are the options?" Joey asked.

"Well, we have those DR mats still but Seto gets embarrassed," Mokuba said as he got up and began looking through the games on the shelves. "We've got Wii bowling that we could all do together. It's always a good laugh," Mokuba informed them as he held up a disk.

"I don't mind," Joey replied with a shrug, "although dancing is quite hard in dressing gowns."

"In Mokie's mind that just means it's more entertaining," Seto informed him, glancing at his brother as the youngster put the disk into the right console before picking up the two Wii remotes they owned.

"I just find it entertaining how good you are at it, big brother."

"I think this is something I am going to have to watch at some point," Joey said with a laugh as he watched the loading screen appear on the TV. "So how do you play this game?"

Mokuba explained how the remotes worked and selected the required options on screen to begin a game. The youngest member of the group went first, the swing of his arm greatly exaggerated by the way his dressing gown moved with his arm which made both Joey and Seto smile. Seto was more entertaining as he got his arm caught on the cord of his dressing gown causing the computer generated bowling ball to loose momentum on the screen giving Seto a score of zero for his first shot. His second one showed his expertise at the game and he got a half strike making Mokuba lean back to whisper something to Joey.

"I swear he cheats somehow because he can pick up any game and master it in only a few tries."

"I thought you were better at video games than he was?" Joey asked, remembering the reputation the younger Kaiba had obtained as a pre-teen.

"Only just, but I spend more time playing them," Mokuba replied as Joey stood up and took the remote from Seto. He got a good swing and managed to knock down most of the pins over his two goes but was still in last place compared to the two more experienced brothers. The game continued in a similar pattern with Seto winning by a clear margin whilst Mokuba and Joey stayed fairly level a few points behind him. That was until Mokuba decided to use the distraction tactic by making Seto jump as he tried to bowl by knocking over an unstable stack of DVDs. Joey started laughing as Seto scored another zero for his first shot and was put off enough to only knock down a couple of pins on his second shot.

"Do you want me to try and help you a bit?" Seto asked Joey as Mokuba looked annoyed.

"You're trying to make me loose because I put you off now, aren't you Seto?" he complained as Joey wondered if he wanted to be caught in the middle of a brotherly competition between the two.

"Of course," Seto replied as he stood behind Joey and gently placed a hand on the wrist holding the Wii remote. Joey lent back slightly, liking the feeling of Seto's warmth through the thick dressing gown. Seto guided his arm through the swing and Seto told him when to let go of the button earning Joey a strike which put him in second place, only four points behind Seto's lead.

The game came to a predictable finish with their positions unchanged although the points were very close after Seto took to 'tutoring' Joey each turn. Mokuba seemed to have ignored the way that Seto and Joey were standing next to each other when Joey took his turn, which both of them were glad of.

"Do you want to watch a film?" Seto asked once the game was over and Mokuba began setting up another game for him to play alone without 'scheming brothers'.

"What do you suggest?" Joey asked, wary of Seto's choice as he knew that their film tastes differed a lot.

"I don't mind. What good horror films have we got, Mokie?"

"Resident Evil is good. Lot's of blood and guts zombie killing like Shaun of the Dead, except not a comedy."

"What's Shaun of the Dead?" Joey asked. He'd heard of Resident Evil before and had nearly watched it with Tristan when it was in the cinema, but he had never heard of Shaun of the Dead.

"It's a romzomcom," Mokuba said happily as his game finished loading.

"It's an english film that Georgie gave me for my birthday that is a romantic comedy with zombies."

"Seto just didn't understand the funny side of London being taken over by zombies," Mokuba informed Joey.

"I think Seto just struggles with humour sometimes," Joey replied with a smile as he received a slight glare from Seto. "Where's Resident Evil?" he asked as he realised that leaving the room soon would prevent Seto from getting wound up by his brother. Mokuba glanced around the floor and obediently held up a DVD case with Resident Evil written on the cover. Seto took it and led the way out of the room.

--

The film turned out to be just like Mokuba's description had said, apart from the good part, in Seto's mind. Joey, however, seemed to be enjoying it and had stopped trying to snuggle up to Seto after only twenty minutes. He still had his arms draped across Seto's shoulders, holding the brunette against himself, but he wasn't pulling Seto closer as he had done at the very beginning of the film. It was irritating Seto a little that Joey was more interested in the film than he was in curling up on the sofa with his new boyfriend, especially when the film was this full of violence with a pathetic excuse for a storyline. Seto decided not to complain and just be content with being held loosely by Joey.

Eventually the film ended and Joey stretched to relieve the cramp from his muscles having been sat still for so long. He glanced down at Seto to find that the CEO had fallen asleep curled up next to him. His chest rose and fell gently with the soft sighs leaving his slightly parted lips as is eyelids fluttered in his sleep. The sight was such a stark contrast of peace and tranquillity compared to the usual stressful appearance when Seto was awake. Joey grinned to himself as he watched, it was still giving him a slight buzz to feel part of Seto's life. Mokuba seemed to have accepted him this morning, especially with the wake up call he got, which made him feel like a member of the family. He hadn't had that feeling in a long time, since his parents divorced in fact, as his dad's alcoholism and following recovery had prevented that family connection ever being returned. His dad and him still had a good relationship, but it was more on the close friends and carers level than parent and child.

Seto stirred, waking from his short nap and blinked his eyes open.

"Has the film finished?" he asked blearily as he brought a hand up to rub the sleep from his eyes.

"Yes, did you actually watch any of it?" Joey replied as he watched Seto stretch to relieve the tension in his muscles. It caused his pyjama top to ride up slightly revealing the pale flesh of his stomach which Joey found very enticing.

"I watched some of it, up until they found the dogs I think," Seto said sleepily.

"What time do we have to be at the airport?" Joey asked to change the subject away from the film.

"Two o clock, why?"

"I was just wondering. By the way it's midday now so we probably ought to get dressed and have lunch soon. Are you cooking again?" Joey licked his lips in anticipation of food.

"Unless you or Mokie volunteer to cook I think I'll have to," Seto replied as he stood up and stretched again with his back to Joey so that his dressing gown was in the way. "I can have a look through my clothes to see if I've got anything that will fit you if you want a change of clothes?"

"Thanks," Joey said as he stood up so that he could follow Seto back upstairs.

--

The jeans were tight fitting and the t-shirt was a bit too small for him but Joey would rather have the new change than wear yesterday's clothes, especially now that Seto had chucked them into the washing machine with his and Mokuba's dirty washing. Seto had found him a whole selection of different outfits which he had left on the spare room bed whilst Joey was having his shower. Joey had been told to use the en-suite bathroom in the room next to Seto's for his shower and that Seto would leave some clothes on the bed for him. That had been half an hour ago and Joey had finished deciding on what to wear even though it was tight fitting in every aspect and he was starting to wonder how any guy could wear such tight trousers. He was finding a new respect for Yami's dedication to those skin tight leather trousers as they must have been highly uncomfortable. Seto's choice in trousers was close fitting too which Joey wasn't going to complain about as they gave him a good view.

Deciding that he would go and find out whether Seto was still getting ready he stood up and went into the corridor. As he approached Seto's bed room door he could hear something from inside the room. He pushed open the door slightly so that he could peer into the room and saw that it was empty apart from an outfit laid out on the bed. The bathroom door was closed and Joey quickly realised that the bathroom was the source of the noise. He could hear a song being played with someone, who he assumed was Seto, singing along to it. Although the singing was muffled by a door and the sound of the shower it was still quite good. It wasn't amazing but still impressive and Joey decided to sit on the bed and listen to it whilst he waited for Seto to finish his shower. The track changed and the singing didn't join in this time until the chorus was reached. It seemed fairly obvious that Seto didn't know the words to this song quite as well.

Joey glanced around the room to try and find something to amuse himself with as he waited for Seto's shower to end. There was a notice board, similar to the one downstairs in the kitchen, next to the window which Joey decided to look at. There were a variety of pencil drawings on it, all unsigned, of Seto and various other people, mostly him and Mokuba together. The first one to attract Joey's attention was a picture showing Seto, Mokuba and Georgie in the park by the lake. Mokuba was throwing bread to the ducks in the foreground of the picture whilst stood to the side of him watching his little brother. Georgie was sat on a bench behind the two brothers with a sketch pad out on her knees and Joey assumed that this meant Georgie was the one to draw the pictures.

The track changed again and Seto started singing as soon as the words came in. Joey smiled to himself as he heard the words, it wasn't a song he recognised but it seemed to be very familiar to Seto. It was a song from one brother to another about how he had made a bad decision in the past that had affected both of their lives. (Heva: The song is Brothers from Fullmetal Alchemist and I've always thought it would suit Seto. I considered having him sing It's my Life by Bon Jovi or You're Not Me from the Yu-gi-oh soundtrack but they've been over used with Seto in AMVs.)

"Beautiful Mother, soft and sweet, once you were gone we were not complete. Back through the years we reached for you. Alas, twas not meant to be," Seto's voice came through the bath room door. As the song continued he looked at the other pictures on the notice board and saw that there were a couple showing Seto and people from Kaiba Corp that he now recognised. Tau and Sara were in both of the pictures next to Seto, the first at what was probably a work diner and the second in the Kaiba Corp canteen with Mokuba sat at the table with them finishing up Seto's food. The drawings had managed to capture the moments very well with all the attention to small details; such as the way Seto's pudding was being devoured by Mokuba, and Tau and Sara were holding hands under the table.

"So, where do we go from here? And how to forget and forgive? What's gone is forever lost. Now, all we can do is live," Seto sang and Joey suspected the song had ended as he heard the singing finish and Seto switch off the shower. The music was shut off as another song started and it was only a few moments before the bathroom door was opened to let Seto enter the bedroom.

"You look good in just a towel," Joey said with a grin as he turned to look at Seto.

"How long have you been in here?" Seto asked as he tightened the towel around his waist to prevent it slipping down. He was blushing slightly having realised that Joey must have heard his singing.

"Long enough to hear a highly talented person singing, although I think you should probably stick with your current job, Seto. Singing isn't one of your best talents," Joey said honestly as he obviously checked Seto out. Seto managed to pull on his boxers without removing the towel, making Joey look slightly upset at the way Seto was ruining his fun but it had been entertaining watching the CEO struggle with the task.

"Do the clothes fit ok?" Seto asked as he pulled on a pair of tight fitting jeans.

"They're a bit small, especially the trousers, but it's fine. I wouldn't want to wear anything this tight for too long and it's hard to put them on, but it isn't too bad." Joey shrugged as he watched Seto do up his own jeans without having any problems at all.

"You'll have to remember to leave some clothes here in the future if you want to stay over night again, or you'll end up wearing them again," Seto replied as he pulled on a t-shirt and stood up from where he had sat on the edge of his bed. "Shall we go and find something for lunch?"

"I never refuse food, Seto, you should know that by now," Joey told him as he followed Seto out of the room and downstairs.

--

Joey came to the conclusion that Seto and Mokuba had a set of rules they followed when in a car together. Mokuba had immediately opened the door to jump into the back seat and put his seatbelt on as Seto opened his car door. Joey sat in the front seat and watched as Seto started up the engine and Mokuba leaned through from the back seat to switch on the radio and tune it into a local station. The way Seto glanced over at Mokuba whilst he was tuning the radio suggested that Mokuba had been the one to de-tune the radio as well which Seto wasn't happy about.

As Seto was pulling out of the driveway Mokuba held something up in the backseat.

"Is this your Sat Nav, big brother?" he asked as he looked at the piece of technology.

"Yes, and it's back there because it is very irritating."

"I think it's funny when you argue with it," Mokuba informed him as he put the Sat Nav back on the floor of the car. The radio droned on about a competition they were doing at the moment that would award the winner with tickets to a rock concert next weekend. They gave the qualifying question and Mokuba muttered that he knew the answer but was too young to enter and there was no way Seto would be nice enough to enter for him. Joey started laughing as Mokuba continued whining about how his brother wasn't cool enough to want to win tickets to a rock concert anyway.

"Can I have a car sweet, Seto?" Mokuba asked at the end of his rant. (Heva: I'm not sure if anybody else does this but it's something I've grown up with. My dad has a packet of wine gums that he always keeps in his car which we call car sweets and we eat them on long journeys, like when we drive to visit relatives.)

"Of course," Seto replied leaning down to find his packet of mint imperials to hand it to Mokuba. As he passed it over his shoulder to his younger sibling Joey caught the end of the radio presenter's sentence.

"I'm not sure what to make of the rumours either but the tabloids seem to have all accepted them as the truth," the female presenter replied.

"Well it is quite persuasive considering the photographs that were taken yesterday. It would be quite a shock to the profits of Kaiba Corp with the launch of their new product later this year," the male presenter informed the listeners.

"I think they're talking about you two," Mokuba said quietly as he pulled a few mint imperials from the packet.

"Just be quiet while we listen to it, Mokie," Seto told him as he turned up the volume a bit. They were stuck in traffic in the middle of town at the moment making Seto feel irritated anyway.

"I should expect the profits to increase as this will boost publicity for the company whether the rumours turn out true or false. It would be nice to think that such a charming young man finally found himself someone, even if it is another guy," the female presenter said happily.

"The news has dashed your hopes of ever being with him though, especially as he's gay. For anyone who has just tuned in we are talking today about the startling revelation that has come to light this morning about the CEO of Kaiba Corp, Seto Kaiba, and his once rival, Joey Wheeler, being secretly together."

"I think I need to ring Raquel later today," Seto muttered.

"Who's Raquel?" Joey asked as the radio broadcasters announced the name of the next song.

"She's the woman who's in charge of dealing with the press. Her and Seto don't get on very well," Mokuba said around his mouthful of mint imperials that muffled his words but the meaning still remained clear. He was currently attempting to see how many he could fit in his mouth and had reached twelve whilst still being able to talk around them.

"Is she the person who rang this morning?" Joey asked.

"Yes, and she must have got fed up with me ignoring her and let the newspapers run the story. I hope you don't mind people knowing about us because whatever happens now everyone knows."

"Are we going to get followed by reporters or something now?" Joey asked nervously.

"I have made it very clear in the past that I don't like reporters and won't say anything to them unless it is on my terms so I severely doubt it," Seto said with a reassuring smile. "I've already got a press conference organised in a couple of weeks time about the new duel disks so I think they can probably wait for that to get their answers about us." Joey nodded and glanced out of the window, wondering whether Seto was right about the reporters leaving them alone. It didn't seem likely to him that they would, but Seto dealt with the press a lot more than he did so he probably knew what to expect a lot more than Joey did.

--

The airport was full of people trying to get booked in for their flights that they were taking to go away for the week, especially families with children who had the week off school. Joey tried not to loose sight of Seto as he cut a path through the queues of people towards a less crowded section of the airport check-in area. Mokuba managed to keep up with Joey and they made it to the patch of free space while Seto spoke to one of the airport security team. The guy nodded and led them through a door into a much less crowded hallway before leaving them to follow the corridor on their own.

Joey glanced into each waiting area they passed, noticing the comfortable chairs and lounge areas that were available to the VIP passengers. A few of the rooms they passed had a few occupants awaiting their private jets to be made ready for their flights. Seto eventually led them to a room with a group of people already there wishing Georgie good bye.

"I'm really going to miss you guys," Georgie was telling the two people she was hugging at that moment.

"Don't worry, George," one of the guys reassured her.

"We will email you all the time," the other guy told her. Joey noticed that they were twins from the nerdy group of people that he had seen Seto and Georgie with. There were a collection of going away gifts on the sofa next to Georgie which Joey spotted and he wondered if he was supposed to have got her something. He had seen the package Mokuba was still clutching in his hands with a card stuck to the top of it and felt slightly guilty that he was intruding on something which only Georgie's close friends should be there for.

The twins were saying goodbye and leaving the room as the three of them walked towards Georgie and her parents.

"We brought you this to say thank you for looking after me all the time," Mokuba said as he handed the present to Georgie's mum. "It's for all of you really but it was you who gave me the idea," Mokuba told her loudly.

"Thank you very much," Georgie's mum said looking at first Mokuba and then Seto.

"I haven't got you all a present, I assumed that I could get away with just helping with the packing and arranging your flight. Mokuba is the one who made the present," Seto said with a smile. Joey looked around the group hoping that nothing would be said to him about presents.

"This is very talented, Mokuba," Georgie's mum told Mokuba as she unwrapped the picture frame with poorly carved dogs around the edge. There wasn't a picture in it yet but Joey was sure that there would be one soon, probably one of Georgie's drawings.

"Thank you," Mokuba said with a broad smile at the compliment.

"Have any of you seen the papers this morning?" asked a familiarly irritating voice from the corridor.

"Kay, you came," Georgie said happily as she went over to greet her friend who was holding a couple of news papers.

"Of course I did. I wasn't going to let you go without saying good bye, and I thought I might be able to tease Seto about the news this morning. Everyone is talking about it, even daddy mentioned it when he saw the paper at breakfast," Kay informed them all. "Apparently he doesn't approve of me mixing with such misguided individuals. He's basically unhappy because he got it into his mind that I could chat you up," Kay said to Seto with a shrug of indifference.

"I'm not under any threat of you trying to steal him away, am I?" Joey asked as Kay began unfolding the news papers to show them the reports.

"None what so ever. He's all yours, pup," Kay replied as she found the right page in the first news paper she had brought and handed it to Seto to read. "Georgie whilst these two are busy reading about themselves and Mokuba's chatting to your parents can I have a chat with you alone please?"

"Of course, Kay," Georgie replied with slight hesitation. Joey noticed Seto look up and make eye contact with Georgie. It was a strange gesture to see from Seto, almost a brotherly reassurance of 'I'm still here for you whatever she says'. The two girls turned and left the room to go to the corridor, leaving Joey and Seto to read the journalist's opinion of their relationship.

"I'm not sure what to say about all this really, Georgie. I've never been in this situation before," Kay said as she considered they were out of earshot of the others.

"You must have said goodbye to friends before," Georgie replied with a slight but nervous smile.

"Neither of us are idiots, Georgie, you and I both know what I am talking about."

"How long have you known, Kay?"

"Most of the time. I'm sorry about this but I just think of you as a friend, a very good friend who could possibly even be called a sister, but not a girlfriend."

"I understand, Kay, I was expecting more of a yelling and disgusted reaction from you about this all. I faced the fact that this couldn't happen already, but I assumed that the whole thing would make you feel weird talking to me. I've been so scared of loosing you the entire time I've been here that I couldn't say anything to you about it. If I had thought you would be ok with it all I would have said something to you." Georgie paused to allow herself to take a much needed breath and let Kay reply.

"Well it doesn't make me feel weird talking to you, a little strange hanging out at the mall to pick up guys and try on new outfits but that's only to be expected," Kay smiled at Georgie's slightly depressed expression. "Come on, cheer up. You get to go home, and I get to visit you for halloween next week."

"Thank you, Kay, you're a real friend," Georgie thanked her, managing a weak smile despite the situation.

"Come on, let's go see what those guys are up to then," Kay said as she put a hand on Georgie's shoulder to guide her back into the airport lounge. Mokuba was playing with Millie over some of the sofas, while Georgie's parents chatted in English about something and Seto and Joey both read the articles in all the papers that Kay had brought with her.

"Now Mokuba, as you have been so helpful with looking after the dogs, making such a great present and putting up with me and your brother, me and mum have decided that you should have a present too," Georgie informed the youngest Kaiba. Mokuba bounced to his feet from where he had sat on the sofa with Millie jumping up next to him and knocking the sofa cushions to the floor. Georgie smiled at his enthusiasm and picked up a collar and lead from the sofa nearest her.

"Why are you giving me these?" Mokuba asked as he took the two items. Seto, Joey and Kay also looked confused at the gift.

"They're to go with your new dog. I didn't want to have to put Millie through all the quarantine and import laws when we get to England so I immediately thought of you. I'm sure she'll be happy and have a wonderful time with you as her new owner. Besides now you and your brother both have your own pups," Georgie told him with a grin as Mokuba hugged her.

"I would have been grateful for some warning that you were planning to bring a dog into my house, Georgie," Seto told her with slight edge of annoyance in his voice. Georgie just smiled at him and ignored the complaint.

--

Joey leant back on the sofa with a sigh. It had been a long day for him, after they said good bye to Georgie they had returned to Seto and Mokuba's house where he had been dragged into the task of puppy proofing everything along with Kay, Seto and Mokuba. Millie turned out to be very destructive and chewed through quite a number things, including some mystery wires that Seto seemed very annoyed about although when questioned he didn't seem able to explain what they were for.

"So how was your night?" his dad asked with a suggestive hint in his voice.

"I slept very well," Joey replied as he shut his eyes, fully intending to fall asleep right there.

"Did you hear the news today?" he asked when he realised that Joey wasn't going to talk about how the previous night went.

"I heard on the radio and saw some of the papers that were printed today."

"I was quite surprised that no reporters showed up to try and talk to us after I saw the news."

"The press are being dealt with by Seto. Today was the first day of our relationship being common knowledge and I think it's all going to be fine." Joey smiled to himself as he finished speaking. Seto had said he would deal with reporters and it looked like he had been right about them not bothering Joey or his dad. Everything really was going to be ok.

--

Seto smiled to himself as he leant back in bed, exhausted after trying to deal with the new addition to the household. Kay had been surprisingly helpful and had helped Mokuba walk Millie around the garden looking for any gaps in the fences that Millie could escape through. That tour had resulted in Seto ringing a carpenter who would come tomorrow and put in a new fence.

He had put off talking to Raquel about the press problems until tomorrow but that wasn't going to keep him away from his much needed sleep. Things with Joey were going well even with everyone now knowing what was happening.

Seto had arranged visiting Georgie and her family over the winter holiday which had stopped Mokuba's crying fit as the family boarded the plane.

Everything really was going to be ok.

--

Heva: I am seriously going to kill one of these kids soon if they don't shut up. It's my fault for deciding to sort this chapter out in school instead of like I usually do at home. Thank Mike for lending me his ipod although I think I've permanently damaged my ear drums by turning it up so loud.

Coel: Probably, but you haven't committed murder which is the important thing.

Heva: Well what did you guys think of the chapter? Please review and tell me. Only one chapter left to go now which makes me sad as I've had so much fun writing this story and listening to your comments. Also remember to say thanks to melodyz07 as she has been so wonderful in helping me out with this story.

Date: 24/10/08


	13. Saturday after halloween

Heva: This is the last chapter. I can't believe this story is finished. I've had so much fun writing it and receiving al your comments about it, and thank you so much melodyz07 for all your help and inspiration.

Coel: You need to thank your cousin as well, heva.

Heva: Of course thank you Liz for helping me with the lemon and putting up with my complaining about how I thought it was terrible. Anyway enjoy the last chapter and I hope that you've enjoyed reading this story.

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Saturday after halloween

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To:

From:

Subject: how are you?

Hi sis,

I meant to talk to you at Yuugi's party yesterday but I had to leave early as I promised Mokuba I would keep Seto occupied whilst he had his friends over. I hope you had a good time with Duke and that Tristan didn't give you any trouble.

Things are going well with me and Seto. He has a press conference set up for next weekend to discuss the new duel disk systems. Yeah like the press are really going to focus on that! Seto asked if I wanted to make an appearance and I think I will but I don't want to have any questions directed at me so I've asked him if a silent appearance is possible. Well, make sure you tune into the news next weekend, Serenity, so that you can see me make a fool out of myself on national television.

Anyway you know I had that panic about that guy, Tsume? I met him on Thursday and he's not the nicest guy I've ever met but I don't mind spending time with him if Seto is with us.

Oh I just realised I haven't explained. Seto set me up this email account on Kaiba Corps business system and I got your email address from Yuugi yesterday at the party so decided I should send you an email. It's weird typing on a computer screen to talk to you, sis. Seto says that I can use his laptop to check my emails and stuff so I'm currently sat in his home office typing this. I would have never guessed that he would keep a packet of wine gums in his top drawer and I hope he doesn't mind me eating them.

Whilst we are on the subject of Seto and work. Those two subjects get put together a lot, have you noticed? He's offered me a Saturday job working with Tau at Kaiba Corp. You remember me talking about Tau on the phone last week? The Italian guy who always makes jokes at Seto's expense and gets away with it? Well the idea is that I can make the cash I need to put myself through university and Seto is paying me a ridiculous salary because of it. He actually offered to just give me the money but I told him I don't accept charity and that's why he suggested the option of a job. It's basically a scam to cover up his attempt at being nice and I don't really want to take that away from him.

Tau has offered to take me on as an apprentice now as well after I spent this morning working with him. I'm not sure whether to accept it or not as university still seems like the most likely option after Seto's help, but an apprenticeship might be a better option for me so I don't know.

Well I can't think what else to write, sis, so I shall just say good bye and hope to get a reply from you soon.

Oh, yes I do remember something else. You remember I commented on the hair dye I saw in Seto's bathroom? Well I finally asked him yesterday and yes he does dye his hair, but only to hide the white streaks that have started to show. Apparently he is going prematurely white which I find really funny. He claims it is due to the stress of running Kaiba Corp, but Mokuba assures me that their dad also had white hair before he was thirty. Seto really is a blue eyes white dragon.

Bye for now from your loving brother

Joey.

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Joey leant back in his chair after clicking the send button. He was feeling quite happy that things seemed to all be going right for him now. Admittedly the media weren't being too helpful with just letting him live his life after announcing it to the world that he was having a relationship with Seto, but the convenient placement of the half term had meant that he hadn't had to face everyone at school yet. That was not going to be a fun experience, hopefully Seto's reputation would stop any uncomfortable comments or questions.

He glanced around the office he was in at the moment. Seto's desk was cluttered with memos and stationary which had made setting up the laptop on its surface fairly difficult, but Joey had persevered in clearing a space. Admittedly his patience hadn't been the greatest and the collection of papers and pens spread across the floor were evidence to it. The office itself was in need of a clean and organise as folders upon folders stuffed full of important papers lined the shelves and were stacked in boxes on the floor. Joey had looked into a few and decided that they were too dull to snoop through.

Allowing his gaze to settle on the laptop's screen again Joey moved the mouse to open up the business messenger system to see if Seto had signed out of the work system yet. It turned out that he hadn't so Joey decided to remind the CEO of his promise to be home before five today.

Joey: Are you finished yet?

Seto: No.

Joey: Can it wait until tomorrow?

Seto: No.

Joey: You promised, Seto.

Seto: I'll be back as soon as I've finished this paperwork. Go and watch TV or something.

Joey: I'd rather annoy you.

Seto: That will mean it's longer before I get back.

Joey paused before replying. It was true, the longer he made Seto spend replying to him the longer it took Seto to leave the office, but it was more fun to annoy the CEO than to sit around waiting for him to come back. He heard the message tone of Seto typing another comment.

Seto: It can wait until tomorrow I suppose. I'll see you in half an hour.

Joey grinned and watched as Seto went offline, probably shutting down the computer in his office.

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Seto pulled the car to a stop on the driveway and switched off the engine. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Tonight would be the first night they spent together without anyone else in the house or things to distract them. It was making Seto nervous with the possibilities of what might happen. Did Joey want to sleep with him tonight? Did he want to take things that far this quickly? It had been a bit over a week since they got together which was the longest he had been in a relationship, if that's what you could really call them, without sleeping with the other person.

Seto let himself slump forwards in the seat and his forehead rested on the top of the steering wheel. Wait and see seemed like the best plan right now to him but he didn't like not being able to plan ahead. Pushing himself back upright he opened the car door and stepped out of the driver's seat.

The gravel of the driveway crunched under foot as he shut the door and locked the car before heading towards the front door. It opened as he approached and Joey poked his had around it.

"I was starting to think you were never going to get out of the car," Joey said teasingly as he looked down the steps at the brunette below him.

"I was letting myself relax, pup," Seto argued, quick to defend his choices against the blond as well as irritate him with the dog names. "Has Mokuba taken Millie with him?"

"Of course. He's mad about that dog," Joey replied, ignoring the obvious attempt to make him react. He didn't really mind being called 'pup', it was quite a cute pet name if he was honest, but the comparison to a four legged canine still reminded him of the source of the knick name sometimes.

"That's good. I don't want to end up looking after that dog when I've got one of my own to look after," Seto said with a genuine smile.

"I ought to punish you for making all these 'dog' comments," Joey smiled predatorily as Seto came within arms length. The CEO was grabbed and spun so that his back was against the door frame.

"What do you propose as a suitable punishment?" Seto asked with a suggestive smirk.

"I'm thinking that maybe we should continue what we started last Saturday," Joey whispered as he leaned forward against Seto so that his mouth was next to Seto's ear. He felt Seto shudder as his breath ghosted over the side of his face and the shell of his ear. "That's only if you want to?" Joey asked gently as he waited for Seto's response.

"I think you've made a good suggestion," Seto replied as he moved to try and make himself more comfortable against the door frame. Joey grinned and kissed Seto's neck, sucking on his pulse point to make Seto groan in appreciation. "Can we go somewhere more comfortable?" Seto asked as he hit his head on the door frame quite painfully.

"Of course. Is your bed room a good idea?" Joey asked in between nipping at the tender flesh of Seto's neck. It was his favourite place to kiss Seto so far, but he hoped to find some other points on Seto's body that caused the CEO to react much more intensely tonight.

"You've made a second good suggestion, I think that's a record for you, pup," Seto commented teasingly as Joey stepped back to allow the now flustered and obviously aroused brunette to try and stand upright.

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Joey pushed Seto backwards onto the bed and leaned over him, his hands either side of Seto's head, and slowly nudged Seto's legs apart so that he could kneel on the bed between them. Seto quickly complied, never breaking eye contact with the blond above him. There was nervousness within his blue orbs but they had become a deep navy with lust, similar to Joey's chocolate brown eyes that appeared almost black as he looked down at Seto.

Seto used a hand placed on the back of Joey's neck to gently pull him down into a kiss whilst using his free hand to tug at the bottom of Joey's t-shirt. The hand at the back of Joey's neck became tangled in his blond locks as the kiss intensified, Joey's tongue tasting every inch of Seto's mouth it could reach. Joey pulled back as he felt his breath begin to give out and smirked down at Seto. He transferred his weight to his knees and helped Seto to lift the t-shirt over his head and throw it off the bed. Seto's jacket and shirt were quick to follow and Joey smiled at the sight that greeted him. The milky white of Seto's skin stood out against the rich blue sheets below him, and his erect nipples drew Joey's gaze as he ran his hands over the smooth skin. As his hands brushed over the nubs Seto's breathing increased slightly. Joey leaned down to connect their lips again before kissing his way along Seto's jaw and down his neck. He paused to nip at the still sore pulse point on Seto's neck, ignoring the visible bruise that was stark against Seto's skin.

Seto felt the blunt teeth against his neck and gasped at the tingles it sent through him. He felt Joey move across his skin with gentle licks and nips following his collar bones. The rough feel of Joey's tongue over his nipples caused him to release a moan of appreciation as Joey smiled against his flesh. He continued to lick and suck the nub whilst bringing a hand to Seto's belt.

The belt proved tricky as Seto tried to help him, but three hands to work one belt seemed to cause more problems as they got in the way of each other. Eventually the belt was undone and Seto's trousers were tugged down slightly before Joey realised that there was no way he would be able to get them off. He sat up and looked down at Seto's form on the bed in front of him.

There were marks that were darkening as the bruising became visible across Seto's chest and neck where Joey had nipped at his skin. The blemishes followed a path visible only to Joey as he surveyed Seto. His face was reddened with a blush as he panted between his parted, kiss swollen lips. The skin of Seto's chest and face was glistening with sweat already from their actions.

"Are you going to help me take these off?" Joey asked tugging at Seto's trousers. Almost instantly Seto was shifting to help drag them down his hips and off his long legs, along with his socks, to be dropped to the floor. This was closely followed by Joey's trousers forming a small collection of fabric on the carpet.

"You're beautiful, Seto," Joey said as he pushed Seto back onto the bed and straddled his thighs.

"So are you, pup," Seto replied as he looked up at his captor. Both remained still, looking over each other as they felt their earlier nervousness return. Joey pushed his to one side as he began running his hands down Seto's chest from his shoulders. He reached the waist band of Seto's boxers, which were quite obviously tented by Seto's erection, and looked up to meet Seto's gaze. The CEO had a slight edge of nervousness still but nodded to Joey in answer to his silent request for permission.

Joey eased down his boxers to release Seto's erection. The brunette gasped as he felt the cold air hit the heated flesh while Joey pulled the fabric down to just beyond his hips. The blond smiled, as he shifted further down Seto's legs so that he could pull the boxers down further, and leaned forward to run his tongue over the head of Seto's erection.

Seto's groan made Joey smile as he took the erection into his mouth, keeping his hands braced against Seto's hips to prevent Seto choking him. It seemed an almost automatic reaction when Seto fisted his hands in Joey's hair as he felt the tip of his penis hit the back of Joey's throat.

Joey hummed experimentally causing Seto to cry out in pleasure, loosening his painfully tight grip on Joey's hair. Seto writhed against the covers forcing Joey to increase his grip on his hips or risk being choked.

"Joey," Seto managed to say between moaning.

"Yes?" Joey asked as he pulled back.

"There's moisturiser in the bedside table," Seto panted as he began recovering from the blow job he had just been given. Joey leaned across to open the drawer and pulled out a small jar of moisturiser. He frowned at the jar, wondering why Seto had wanted it, surely he had something more appropriate to use as lubricant than this. Continuing to frown at it he unscrewed the lid and dipped his fingers into the gunk, Seto sighed and leaned his head back onto the bed. "What's wrong, pup?"

"Haven't you got anything better, Seto?" Joey asked, rubbing it between his fingers and thumb. "This stuff just soaks into your skin, and yeah our skin will be nice and soft but I don't think this will work as lubricant." Joey shrugged as he looked down at Seto.

"It works well as lubricant, Joey."

"If you say so. You're going to be the one unable to sit down tomorrow," Joey pointed out as he began smothering his fingers in the cream. His comment received no reply except a smirk as Seto turned over so that he was lying on his front. "You are very impatient, Seto," Joey complained as he moved his first finger to gently rest against Seto's entrance.

"I don't see why that's a problem," Seto replied as he pushed himself up slightly to try and force Joey's finger in. Joey had been expecting it and refused to even increase the pressure on the muscles.

"Patience is a virtue, Kaiba," Joey told him in the way a parent tells a child. "You need to learn a bit of patience." Joey paused as Seto let himself collapse on the bed. "But that can wait for another time."

Joey pushed his first finger inside Seto quickly, catching the brunette by surprise at his sudden change, and caused him to arch his back. He moaned as Joey began to thrust his finger gently in and out of his body whilst changing the angle to find that one spot that would have Seto crying out in pleasure. Seto panted with want as Joey continued to search with a single finger.

"Joey," Seto moaned as his eyes widened when Joey's finger finally connected with that point to send sparks through his mind. Joey withdrew his finger and shifted to a more comfortable position to sit in before replacing two fingers within Seto's body. He felt Seto tense against the intrusion and used his free hand to rub circles on Seto's lower back to try and help him ease the muscles.

"Does it hurt?" Joey asked, feeling stupid once the words left his mouth. Of course it hurt if Seto was letting his discomfort show; Seto didn't just show things like that as they could be taken as weakness.

"A bit," Seto admitted as he forced himself to relax and allow Joey to move his fingers to continue stretching his muscles. Joey pushed in a third finger after he considered Seto sufficiently relaxed and spread his fingers causing Seto to whimper slightly in pain. He paused and held still for a moment at the sound. This wasn't something he had considered in his day dreams about Seto and he didn't know what he should do now. Should he stop and they would do something else to bring them both to release? Or should he continue even though he was hurting Seto? Asking Seto was probably the best option.

"Do you want me to stop?" Joey asked hesitantly as he moved his free hand to brush away the hair falling across Seto's face.

"No," Seto replied, shaking his head to hide his face behind his hair again. "It just hurts a bit."

"Ok," Joey said quietly and shifted his fingers again, managing to hit that spot again and cause Seto to groan in appreciation. The sound helped lift Joey's doubts about continuing and he began spreading his fingers again to finish preparing Seto for what was still to come.

Joey withdrew his fingers as Seto began pushing back against them, showing the blond that he was fully adjusted to the intrusion. He fumbled around the bed trying to locate the jar of moisturiser that had been dropped somewhere on the sheets. Seto's few coherent thoughts managed to work out what was wrong and he joined in the hunt, managing to locate it before Joey, and unscrew the lid. The brunette spread a fair amount onto his fingers and reached towards Joey so he could smear it across his erection.

Joey groaned at the feeling of Seto's hands massaging the most sensitive part of his anatomy. He leaned his head back as he gasped with pleasure while Seto continued to use a generous amount of lubricant to coat the heated flesh. It was hard to force himself to stop Seto from continuing to bring him to release by grabbing the brunette's wrists.

Seto smirked as he saw the hunger in Joey's eyes as he locked gazes with the blond. They remained stationary for barely a second before Joey was helping Seto to turn around. It was a swift thrust from Joey to enter Seto and cause the brunette to cry out in a mixture of pain and pleasure at the feeling. Joey held still as he hoped Seto would adjust soon. He was surprised to feel a drip of something wet splash onto the arms he had wrapped around Seto in a hug to hold the brunette against his chest.

"Seto, are you ok?" Joey asked with concern clear in his voice. His one track mind was forced off the rails by the thought of doing something wrong. May be he really should have taken the other option he had considered earlier.

Seto remained silent for a few more seconds, worrying Joey more by each passing moment, especially as he was certain that the wetness he could feel on his arms were tears.

"Are you going to move?" Seto asked, his usual confidence returning to his voice as he pushed back against Joey. The blond grinned, his own confidence boosted by Seto's response and he began thrusting gently.

Seto was pushing back, meeting every thrust to try and force Joey deeper, as Joey moved a hand onto Seto's arousal to pump in time with his thrusts. The brunette gasped and moaned loudly with each thrust sending sparks up his spine causing what remained of his coherent mind to become foggy with pleasure.

The thrusts gradually got more frantic as Joey began to feel near his climax. He pumped Seto faster to try and make his release come quicker so they could climax together. Eventually Joey felt Seto's muscles start to constrict around his member as Seto neared release.

"Joey, I'm … close," Seto panted between moans and gasps. Seto cried out as his seed spread over Joey's hand and his muscles contracted sending sparks to Joey's mind. He was only able to thrust a few more times before releasing into Seto's body. The warm fluids suddenly forced into his body caused Seto to moan in appreciation of the feeling.

With as much energy as he could muster Joey pulled out of Seto and fell to the side so he wasn't crushing the thin brunette. They lay there panting as they regained their breath. Joey reached across and pulled Seto against himself. Neither felt the need to talk so remained silent, happy in the presence of the other as they recovered from their orgasms.

The quiet was broken by a ringing sound coming from somewhere on the floor, muffled by the clothing spread across the carpet.

"Seto, do you ever turn off your phone?"

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Heva: Well I hope that you all enjoyed that and feel like reviewing to make me smile. I have actually done a few drawings to go with this story and I've put them up on my new freewebs account, the link is in my profile as my homepage. They aren't very good but I thought you guys might like to have a look.

Coel: What new stories are you planning now?

Heva: I've got a few ideas, including a sequel to this if people are interested, but I've got exams in January and university applications to finish so won't be working on anything for a little while. Have a happy halloween.

Date: 31/10/2008


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